Buffalo Bills RB James Cook's Career Day Flies Under Radar in Win vs. Kansas City Chiefs
It’ll count the same in the standings, but Week 14’s contest between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs certainly felt like more than just a regular-season game. The playoff implications, the emotions, and the intense finish culminated in a 20-17 road win for the Bills.
The stories of the game will be Buffalo rallying around the head coach and the officiating outrage on behalf of Kansas City. It has already stolen the national media attention and social media’s reaction. Without either quarterback putting together an MVP-worthy performance, and thus, falling short of expectations, the focus has swung off the field.
It should instead be directed at running back James Cook.
Bills RB James Cook leaps into the end zone as he scores against the Kansas City Chiefs.
USA TODAY
On Sunday, Cook’s gaudy stat line speaks for itself. He rushed 10 times for 58 yards, efficient in itself. But as a pass catcher, he caught all five targets for 83 yards and a critical score. The game marked a career-high in receiving yards and was the second-most total yards he had managed in a game.
The highest? Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders—a game that hardly needed his contributions.
In one of the most important games of his career, Cook put together a game Buffalo badly needed.
Quarterback Josh Allen spoke about Cook’s day after the win.
“He was awesome,” Allen said. “He’s been working hard. He had probably his best week of practice this week, been getting more comfortable with him catching passes out of the backfield. He had a lot of opportunities tonight and he took advantage of it. Thought he ran the ball well.”
Allen produced -1.1 expected points added in total on the day. Cook, though, was a positive force both on the ground and through the air. He generated 1.7 expected points added as a runner and an impressive 7.1 as a receiver. To do so on just 15 plays is awesome, too. Those marks were easily the best of the Bills, which is very hard for a running back to do, especially with a quarterback like Allen by his side.
In all, it was an inspiring performance when the offense badly needed it, made even more refreshing given the inconsistencies he’s seen this season. He’ll look to make a similar impact in Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys.
