James

Cook

No team allowed fewer rushing yards in the regular season than Jacksonville. Their front seven lived up to the hype in the Wild Card Round, limiting Cook to 3.1 yards per carry. Week 18 aside, it was Cook’s lowest rushing output since Week 1. Cook’s fantasy backers also got to watch Josh Allen steal two rushing touchdowns. Cook should fare better next week, no matter who the Bills face in the Divisional Round. He will still be one of the best DFS options on next week’s slate.

The shifty pass catcher and change-of-pace player has been a valuable contributor this season. He still has a few days to get back on track for Sunday, but if Johnson were to sit out the Bills’ Wild Card Round game against the Jaguars, it would likely add passing down work to RB James Cook’s workload.

Cook entered the day as the NFL’s leading rusher, so the Bills gave him a couple of carries to pad that lead before taking him out of the game. He is now up to 1,621 rushing yards on the year. Only Derrick Henry, who plays on Sunday Night Football on NBC, can catch him, but it would require him to rush for 153 yards against the Steelers. After signing his contract extension, Cook put together a career-best season and will head into the Wild Card showdown against the Jaguars as Buffalo’s second-most-important player behind only Josh Allen.

Cook currently leads the NFL with 1,606 rushing yards with Jonathan Taylor — who plays before Cook at 1 eastern on Sunday — at 1,559 and third-place Derrick Henry at 1,469. It’s possible that Cook is left in a little longer than most starters — should the Bills pull starters at some point, and it sure feels like they will — if Taylor leaves the rushing title achievable for Cook. Taylor’s tough matchup against the Texans may keep him from mounting a real challenge. Anyone relying on Cook in Week 18 should probably have Ray Davis on the bench and be prepared to swap him in if Taylor has a tough game against the Texans.

The Eagles were flying all over the field to stop the run today, showing little concern for the Bills’ passing attack. It worked, for the most part. Cook had a long run of 10 yards and was routinely hit one or two yards from the line of scrimmage. He also subbed himself out of the game a few times after some big hits, including a near fumble where he landed on the top of his head. The Bills don’t have much to play for against the Jets, but they likely will want Cook to cement his status as the NFL’s leading rusher, so we’d expect at least one busy half of football for Cook next week.

Cook accounted for 67 of the Bills’ 80 yards on their opening possession. Most of those yards came via a 44-yard touchdown run he ripped off on the fifth play from scrimmage, as Cook blew past and later shook several defenders on his way to the impressive score. He would again find the end zone in the first half, punching in a score from three yards out to give the Bills a comfortable 20-10 lead at halftime. Cook and the Bills’ offense stalled for much of the second half, as he rushed seven times for 17 yards in the second half, but his early impact proved to be too much for the Browns to overcome. Cook has now scored four times in his last two games and will be on the RB1 radar next week against the Eagles.

The Patriots’ rushing defense has struggled since Milton Williams (ankle) was placed on the IR. James Cook took advantage of that on Sunday, consistently earning hard yards up the gut and then using a tremendous second-effort dive to get his first rushing touchdown. Cook was targeted three times in the passing game, but was kept in check with just four receiving yards, including his five-yard touchdown catch. (Yes, you read that right.) The Bills will need Cook again against a tough Browns defense next week in what should be another freezing cold game.

Coming off a historic performance against the Steelers, this was not quite the rushing performance many expected against the Bengals. Cook looked good, but found running room hard to come by throughout the day. He had a tough sequence in the third quarter where he ripped off a great run down the sideline, but had the ball knocked loose as he stretched for a touchdown at the 1-yard line. That run was called back for holding, and then two plays later, Cook lost a fumble for real that the Bengals recovered in the end zone. That seemed to seal a loss for the Bills before they pulled off a miraculous comeback. Cook remains an RB1 for fantasy, but he has struggled to find the end zone over the last few months, scoring four touchdowns in seven games since the team’s bye. Things won’t get easier next week against the Patriots.

Cook also added three catches on three targets for 33 yards, but did lose a fumble when he kneed the ball out of his own hands. Despite running behind two backup offensive tackles, Cook got to the edge consistently on Sunday and helped the Bills rush for 249 yards, which was the most ever by an opponent at Pittsburgh’s current stadium, and the most the Steelers have allowed in any game since the Bills rushed for over 300 yards in 1975. Cook has been the linchpin of this Bills offense and, now that he is being used more in the passing game, has a chance to be the overall fantasy RB1 next week against the Bengals.

Cook had a solid day on the ground that was buoyed by a 45-yard touchdown run on the Bills’ opening drive. The speedster carefully navigated through the line before breaking into and then past the Texans’ secondary nearly untouched on the way to his eighth rushing touchdown of the season. It was the sixth 100-plus yard performance of the season for Cook, who has now topped 1,000 rushing yards for the third straight year and is on pace to surpass his career-high of 1,122 yards as early as next week. The Bills’ bell cow will be firmly on the RB1 radar in Week 13’s game against the Steelers.