ORCHARD PARK — Maybe Josh Allen left his cape in Detroit. Maybe he was just due for an off night.
Regardless, the Buffalo Bills proved they can win without Allen being superhuman. Especially when James Cook gets the ball.
For the second consecutive week — and third time in four games — Cook surpassed 100 yards rushing. And just like those other two games, he broke loose for a run of at least 40 yards.
Trailing 14-0 in the second quarter, Cook spotted a cut-back lane and dashed through it for a 46-yard touchdown. Last week Cook broke off a 41-yard touchdown just after halftime to build a 14-point lead.
“I don’t think it felt like last week because I got my hair pulled,” Cook said.
Cook ran for 100 yards on 11 attempts and was the team’s leading receiver with three catches for 26 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown reception to tie the game on the opening drive of the second half in a 24-21 win over the New England Patriots.
Sunday’s win over the now 3-12 Patriots — a team that looked to be somewhere in the middle of trying to win and tanking for a better draft spot — probably isn’t a regular recipe the Bills want to use, but it’s one every contender needs to pull out on occasion.
Now tied with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts for the NFL lead with 14 rushing scores, Cook trails O.J. Simpson (16) and Allen (15) for the franchise single-season record after having four in his first two seasons.
“Around this time, you’ve got to be able to run the ball,” Cook said. “And we can, so we have to continue to do it and get better.”
It was only a matter of time before Allen cooled off after a scalding hot three-game stretch and it was probably appropriate it happened in a game that was 8 degrees at kickoff. Allen matched his lowest completion percentage of the season (55.2), threw an interception for the first time since Week 11, was sacked for the first time since Week 10 and his 154 passing yards were 107 behind rookie Drake Maye’s 261.
Little came easy for Allen in the passing game and that was before he bumped his elbow on a fourth-quarter scramble that caused him to lose feeling in his right hand for nearly 10 minutes. When he could feel his hand, Allen made more risky decisions than normal and when he made the easy throw, his receivers had some uncharacteristic drops.
Not only did Buffalo lose its eight-game 30-point streak, but it didn’t score a touchdown in the first first quarter for the first time since Week 9.
“Got to come out in the first half ready to play,” Allen said. “And I don’t think that’s something that we did great today. Missed some opportunities. Wish I had a few back. That’s every game, but glad our defense and our special teams can step up. They scored on defense, obviously, and we won the turnover battle again, and it’s complementary football, and our defense had our back today.”
Aside from an interception in the end zone reminiscent of one Allen might have thrown during his rookie season, the Bills figured out quickly it wasn’t going to be a game in which Allen threw for 300 yards and play calls were nearly an even split with 29 passes and 28 runs.
The Patriots came into the game ranked 30th in total yards (298.1) and 31st in points (17), but out-gained the Bills 379-324. New England held the ball for over 12 minutes in the first quarter and had the ball over 20 minutes in the first half, yet the Bills flipped it in the second half and cut the time of possession discrepancy to fewer than two minutes.
“That’s one thing we and (Allen) have gotten better at is knowing what type of game it is,” Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence said. “We knew it was the type of game where they were going to control the ball and get some type of points. … We came in ready for a grinder-type of game and I feel like that was a good game to test us.”
Once Allen regained feeling in his elbow, the Bills utilized the quarterback sneak to seal the game with 10 seconds remaining. But he hit Ray Davis for a 17-yard pass on third and 1 earlier in the fourth quarter, a sign the Bills don’t always have to use Allen in short yardage situations.
Cook has shown that all season, with 10 of his 16 total touchdowns have come inside the 10-yard line after having four in his first two NFL seasons. From 2020 to 2023, Allen had a hand in 80% of the team’s touchdowns inside the 10 and that number has dropped to 61% this season.
Any chance to get fewer hits on Allen is a good thing after coming up with some sort of bump or bruise in three of the last four games.
“I’m just trying to get the team’s trust, get the coach’s trust,” Cook said.