When Cleveland and Houston met three weeks ago, Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper had 11 receptions for 265 yards and two touchdowns. The former Alabama All-American broke the franchise single-game record for receiving yards as Cleveland defeated the Texans 36-22 on Dec. 24.

In the fifth 200-yard receiving game in Browns’ history, Cooper surpassed the Cleveland record of 261 yards by Josh Gordon in a 32-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Dec. 1, 2013. Cooper became the 20th player in NFL history with a game that included 250 receiving yards and two TD receptions and the only one who also had a 2-point conversion.

The Browns and Texans will square off again at 3:30 p.m. CST Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston in the first round of the AFC playoffs. NBC will televise the game.

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“We gave up too many explosive passes, and Amari had an outstanding game,” Houston coach DeMeco Ryans said on Monday. “Watching it again, he had some of the best catches I’ve seen all year. Even though guys were in coverage and in position, he still made unbelievable catches. He had an outstanding game, so we just have to be in position to cover him better. We have to be able to make plays to get off the field on third down as well.”

Against the Texans, Cooper had a 53-yard reception on the game’s first snap and scored on 75- and 7-yard passes from quarterback Joe Flacco.

“At the end of the day, it’s just numbers,” Cooper said on Wednesday when asked to reflect on his record-setting performance. “I don’t take it for granted, but it’s the past. I always tell myself I don’t want to look back on my career in that nostalgic type of way that I think you’re alluding to until after I’m done playing.”

Because Cooper burned the Houston secondary so badly on Dec. 24, it might be expected the Texans will make changes to their coverage plans to try to stop the Cleveland wide receiver this time around.

“Obviously, we didn’t do a good job of that specifically with him in the first game,” Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke said on Wednesday. “It’s not even something that had to be brought up, everyone kind of knew it coming in. Like, ‘Hey, we can’t play like that again.’ Obviously, if he’s breaking records on Saturday again, it’s going to be a long day for us.”

Cooper said the Texans’ defensive scheme might limit what they can change.

“They’re not really a man team,” Cooper said, “so I think the chances of them using a player to shadow me is a little bit less than what it would be if they were a man team. But you never know. For the playoffs, teams game plan, and they’re willing to do whatever they have to do to win. We’ll just see.”

Cooper has not played since the Browns’ victory over the Texans. A heel injury caused him to miss Cleveland’s 37-20 victory over the New York Jets on Dec. 28 and 31-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. He might have sat out the loss even if healthy as the Browns rested many of their top starters with their playoff spot secured.

Cooper returned to practice as a full participant on Thursday.

“It’s getting better every day,” Cooper said. “I’m running around now, so it’s just a typical injury that you have to work through.”

Cooper has played in four postseason games, with 21 receptions for 245 yards and two touchdowns.

“From my experience, everything is just a little more heightened,” Cooper said. “Obviously, the stakes are, but when you’re out there on the field it seems like the game plan is on point. It feels like you don’t have any room for error. Like Coach was talking about earlier in the week, throughout the course of the season, you make a mistake, you drop a ball, something happens, you know you got more plays. This is win-or-go-home, so the margin for error is much smaller.”

When Houston played Cleveland in December, the Texans prized rookies missed the game. Without former Alabama All-American Will Anderson Jr. at defensive end, Houston didn’t sack Flacco. Without C.J. Stroud at quarterback, the Texans gained 283 yards and threw two interceptions, even though they had the fewest turnovers in the NFL this season.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.