After the Jacksonville Jaguars elected to kickoff to start the game, the Buffalo Bills wasted no time punching the ball into the endzone on their first drive. The Bills drove it down the field with almost no issue. They even had a fourth down situation just across midfield but opted to go for it and turned into a Josh Allen-to-Khalil Shakir connection that kept the drive alive.
James Cook finished the first drive with 10 rushing yards off of 3 carries and added 2 receptions for 23 yards. Buffalo got into scoring position and Cook took it in for a six yard rushing touchdown. After the Bills scored, Tyler Bass’ PAT was blocked, giving the Bills only a 6-0 lead.
James Cook has officially set a career high in rushing touchdowns
Coming into the 2024 season, Cook had four total rushing touchdowns in his career with the Bills. While he had over 1,000+ rushing yards last season, Josh Allen may have taken away a couple of touchdown opportunities for Cook. In just their third game of this season, Cook has scored three rushing touchdowns which sets a career high for him.
James Cook finds the end zone on the Bills opening drive, marking his third rushing TD of the season.
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) September 23, 2024
That establishes a new single season career-high for the third year back out of Georgia (Cook had 2 rushing TDs in 2022 & 2023).
This might be an unusual record to have, considering how much of an impactful player Cook has been with the Bills since last year. However, it looks like Cook is just getting started with his dominance in this Buffalo offense.
Cook isn’t your usual three-down back, but he adds value by catching passes out of the backfield which helps move the chains. If the Bills are able to get into the redzone or even inside the ten yard line, Joe Brady should continue to keep feeding Cook and giving him the touchdown numbers.
The Bills have had a great start to this primetime matchup on offense and they will need to continue it to keep putting pressure on Trevor Lawrence. The key to it is to run the ball, eat up the clock, and throw the Jacksonville defense through a loop with a trick play or two.