When the Buffalo Bills finally made the decision to extend James Cook prior to the start of the season, it created a bit of harsh feelings from fans as there were a good amount that believed the Bills should have not made that move. Well, Cook is silencing those doubters with his phenomenal season he is having so far.
He is 80 yards away from hitting the 1,000-yard mark on the ground and he’s added 7 touchdowns in doing so. Cook is set to break his season-high in rushing yards that he set back in 2023 (1,122 yards).
Want to know just how valuable Cook is to Buffalo’s offense? In the 3 losses the Bills have, Cook has rushed for 100 yards. The only game that the Bills won where Cook rushed for under 100 yards was in Week 1 against the Ravens where it took consecutive miracles for Buffalo to pull off the comeback.
Buffalo is coming off a tough Week 10 loss against Miami, and now they are set to host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tomorrow. While the Bills will have the chance to utilize Cook this Sunday, Tampa Bay won’t make it easy and quite frankly, there is a solid chance that Cook won’t have success.
Buccaneers' run-defense poses as threat to James Cook's production
In 9 games this season, the Bucs have only allowed over 100 rushing yards 3 times, in which they are 1-2 in those games. Tampa has given up 160+ rushing yards in two of their last three games. Other than that, they have held various rushing attacks to under 100 yards.
Bills fans have learned this season that if Buffalo can’t get Cook going out of the backfield, the offense becomes very predictable. Not to mention, there is no other weapon outside of Cook that can take over a game.
Tampa has a physical defense and they will be bringing tons of pressure to slow down Cook and Josh Allen. If they can take away Buffalo’s running game early on, it could be yet another long day for Bills fans.