Ahead of their showdown in Week 13, let's predict how Buffalo Bills running back James Cook will perform against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cook has given the Bills a mixed bag in their past five games. He exploded for 216 yards against the Panthers and kept it up with 114 yards against the Chiefs. In the next two weeks, however, he managed just 53 yards against the Dolphins and 48 against the Buccaneers. Then he bounced back for 116 yards against the Texans last week.
In those five games, he has four touchdowns, three on the ground and one in the air. Cook is still scoring at a high rate this season, but not as often as last year when he rushed for 16 touchdowns.
Pittsburgh has a solid rushing defense, allowing 105.7 yards per game on the ground. It might simply be that teams aren't running as much on Pittsburgh because of how bad their secondary is, allowing the second-most passing yards per game.
The Steelers allow 4.2 yards per attempt, which ranks in the middle of the pack. Cook, on the other hand, is averaging 5.4 yards per attempt, making him one of the top running backs in the league.
Most likely, Cook's YPA in Week 13 will average somewhere between his season average of 5.4 and the Steelers' average of 4.2. If Cook averages 4.5 yards per attempt over 16 attempts, he'd end up with 72 total yards.
Can James Cook carry this Bills offense past Pittsburgh?
Considering the Steelers' biggest weakness on defense is their secondary, the Bills probably won't run the ball much, so projecting somewhere between 70-75 yards for James Cook seems reasonable. He might also add a few yards in the receiving game, but this feels like one of those games when the Bills' passing offense will lead the way instead of Cook.
Final prediction: Cook will go for 74 rushing yards on 16 attempts, and won't find the endzone. He will also catch two passes for 16 yards.