Week 1 was coming down to the wire between the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans. Usually when the Bills find themselves in these types of situations where it’s coming down to who makes the one better play, Buffalo has been on the losing end of things. It’s happened so many times in recent memory with heartbreaks, and it felt like it was going to happen again.
Then, not only did the Bills ultimately score the game-winning touchdown from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, but Buffalo's defense managed to cause a turnover late in the game to seal it to get to 1-0.
On Buffalo's final offensive drive, they were down 31-30 and they had to drive 96 yards to get into the endzone. Being pinned up against their own 4-yard line going up against Houston's defense as not exactly the best setup. However, Buffalo defined the odds and got their second 96-yard touchdown drive of the game.
Buffalo's game-winning drive was magical (until it almost wasn't)
With just over three minutes to go in the 4th quarter, the Bills didn't have a lot of time to get into scoring position. On the first play of the drive, the Bills ran the ball with James Cook who took it 12 yards but then the ball was punched loose creating a fumble. Luckily, O'Cyrus Torrence recovered it to keep the drive going.
When the fumble became live, all of Bills Mafia held their breaths and waited to see what the result was. Luckily, the luck went in their favor. Cook's fumble could have been costly because the Bills were already backed up pretty far, and more than likely, the Texans would have won the game.
Joe Brady still shows belief in James Cook despite big 4th quarter fumble
According to Matt Parrino of Syracuse.com, Joe Brady spoke about Cook and how he was not happy on the team plane going back to Buffalo because of the fumble.
"I'm not gonna have any restraints on giving James Cook the ball. He understands that when he has the ball, he has all of our jobs on the line." said Brady, per Parrino.
Joe Brady said James Cook was pissed off on the team plane after the Bills’ win over the Texans because he fumbled late in the game.
— Matt Parrino (@MattParrino) September 15, 2026
“I’m not gonna have any restraints on giving James Cook the ball. He understands that when he has the ball, he has all of our jobs on the line.”
Cook has 11 career fumbles since joining the Bills, which includes having six just last season. Now granted, he did have 309 carries so mistakes were bound to happen. However, one of Cook’s biggest issues has been ball security throughout his career.
Heck, in his first NFL carry back in 2022 against the Los Angeles Rams, he fumbled and he didn’t get another snap in that season-opening game.
Still, Cook is one of the league’s best backs and his fumble this past Sunday shouldn’t be looked into too much. The Bills had the best rushing attack last season led by Cook, and they will be looking to get it back on track on Thursday when they welcome in the Detroit Lions for an epic clash between two high-scoring offenses.
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