ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Amari Cooper is a two-time Pro Bowl selection.

He is seen as one of the premier playmakers in the NFL.

And he also entered last weekend with a league-leading seven dropped passes, per Pro Football Focus.

Maybe that's why the Oakland Raiders receiver was only targeted two times in the team's 30-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Or, as many would suggest, had he been targeted more, perhaps the Raiders come out on the right end of that score.

It's a new twist on that old chicken-and-the-egg argument. And it's one that has Raiders coach Jack Del Rio frustrated.

"Yeah. I saw five wide-open [looks], shook his guy, was open in space," Del Rio said this week of Cooper. "I would have loved to see that ball get delivered to him there."

Instead, Cooper, who said last week he'd like to get into a rhythm early, did not get his lone reception, an 8-yard pickup, until there were about 12 minutes remaining in the game.

"Being that this was my first game, I was just going through my reads, honestly," said quarterback EJ Manuel, who was playing in place of the injured Derek Carr. "As a football player, you can't necessarily go into a game and say, I'm going to throw to this guy 'X' amount of times.

"Of course we want Coop to touch the ball as much as possible, but looking back on it, you do want to be clean with your reads. When it's time for him to get the ball, obviously you want to throw it to him. But when it's not, it's not."

Carr is expected to return for Oakland this weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers, two weeks after suffering a transverse process fracture at Denver.

But even Carr, who was training camp roommates with Cooper in 2016, has had a hard time getting Cooper going this season.

Cooper has 13 catches for 118 yards and a TD through five games, with only four receptions for 23 yards coming in the Raiders' three-game losing streak.

"Not every play is designed to go to him," Del Rio said. "You can't see everybody at one time. Sometimes you start with your read somewhere else and you don't make it back for whatever reason. He was doing his part to create space and opportunity for the quarterback. We just missed him a couple of times."

For Carr to jumpstart himself, Cooper and the Raiders as a team, he has to find him against the Chargers.