Josh Allen is the best player in the NFL this season, should be in line for his first MVP award and carries the Buffalo Bills鈥 Super Bowl hopes on his right shoulder. Argue that and you will lose.
But Sunday鈥檚 24-21 win over the New England Patriots should be an exclamation point that hits coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Joe Brady over the head entering the postseason.
More rushes by James Cook, please.
Let Jimbo cook more often. Let Jimbo shake and sprint to the end zone. Let Jimbo gash through and dash by opponents. Let Jimbo run so Allen won鈥檛 have to as much on designed keepers.
Cook is ready for the responsibility.
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The Bills should be ready to give him that responsibility.
Cook is ready to run it when the opponent knows he鈥檚 getting the football. He鈥檚 ready to hit big ones, like the 46-yard touchdown he had against the Patriots, when the Bills require it. He鈥檚 ready for it all.
Cook made it three 100-yard rushing games in the last four weeks by carrying 11 times for 100 yards (a nifty 9.1-yard average) Sunday 鈥 part of a Bills running game that gained 172 yards against the Patriots.
If the Bills (12-3) continue to win, they will host at least two AFC playoff games. The weather will be so cold, a palm tree would have no chance at surviving. The turf will be like iced-over cement. The football will feel like a cross between a bowling ball and a shot put. A hand-off will be better than a pass in some instances.
鈥淲ithout a doubt,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淎round this time (of the season), we have to be able to run the ball, so we have to continue doing it and keep getting better.鈥
The Bills needed everything Cook provided against the pesky Patriots, who certainly have a quarterback (Drake Maye) to build around, but need to get the kid some help.
The Bills trailed 14-0. The frozen fans were justifiably anxious.
The Bills were being outgained 141-11. New England was doing whatever it wanted.
The Bills appeared flat, disengaged and disinterested, and more focused on Christmas. Not exactly qualities befitting an AFC superpower.
This should have been a game in which the Bills flexed their muscles early and often and saw Allen watching the fourth quarter from the sideline.
Alas, the Bills needed something 鈥 anything 鈥 to serve as a spark. Enter Cook, who broke one tackle on his 46-yard score. It started a run of 24 consecutive points by the Bills.
鈥淚 just saw the lane open and just took it,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all I can say.鈥
Others said more.
鈥淭hat was a good one,鈥 fullback Reggie Gilliam said. 鈥淥nce Jimbo gets to the edge? Gone.鈥
Said rookie running back Ray Davis: 鈥淥nce he gets to open space, it鈥檚 鈥榞oodbye,鈥 because he has the speed to do it.鈥
Gilliam had a second-level blocking assignment, but Cook had already run past him. Right guard O鈥機yrus Torrence made his seal-out block and became a spectator.
鈥淥nce you get James to the second level, I just start running toward the end zone,鈥 Torrence said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I鈥檒l meet him.鈥
The Bills have met Cook in the end zone 16 times this year 鈥 not bad for a player who had a combined 10 touchdowns (five rushing, five receiving) in 37 games covering his first two pro seasons.
Short-yardage time meant Cook became a spectator. The Bills correctly changed that this year. Cook runs with the ideal mixture of violence, patience and decisiveness, traits that work for any part of the field.
Cook鈥檚 14 rushing touchdowns have measured 1, 49, 6, 5, 11, 2, 7, 2, 3, 6, 65, 41, 6 and 46 yards. His four touchdowns of at least 40 yards are a new Bills record, breaking a tie with O.J. Simpson, who had three in three different seasons.
Cook is entering the statistical stratosphere of Simpson in Bills history. The Juice rushed for 16 touchdowns during his 14-game season in 1975; Cook now has 14 with two games remaining. He trails Allen (15 in 2023) and Simpson.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a Hall of Famer, so that feels good,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淚 just have to keep playing good football.鈥
Cook, actually, has been playing great football. Through Sunday afternoon, his 14 rushing touchdowns were tied with Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts for the NFL lead, but he was only 21st in carries (182) and 15th in yards (928). Cook has more to give 鈥 if he is allowed to.
When McDermott plays his greatest hits before the media, it usually centers on winning the line of scrimmage. The guy loves the trenches, wants his offense to have run-pass balance and, all things being equal, would prefer a 1-yard touchdown run to a 1-yard touchdown throw.
Allen is the great equalizer at the goal line, a human wrecking ball. But he keeps getting his funny bone dinged up, as he did again Sunday. So it鈥檚 time to pull back the reins on his designed rushes and start leaning on Cook.
鈥淲hen (Cook) is angry and hungry, he runs like it and you can tell,鈥 McDermott said.
Playoff Time should be Angry/Hungry Jimbo Time.
