Will James Cook become Bills' first NFL rushing champ since 1976? His blockers are ready
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Tim Graham
Coach Sean McDermott has been coy about his approach to Sunday's lineup, but he conceded Cook's chase was on his mind.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — To rest or to run? For some Buffalo Bills, there is no question.
The main topic around the banged-up Bills this week has been whether they will go full tilt while closing out Highmark Stadium against the New York Jets or rejuvenate for the playoffs.
The Bills don’t have much to play for Sunday afternoon. Making the tournament was inevitable. Once they were eliminated from the AFC East title race last week, they knew they’d open on the road. All that remains is determining their modest seed, which is neither entirely within their control nor a calculable preference. A loss Sunday might eventually alter their playoff road for the better.
Josh Allen’s right foot has required X-rays after each of the past two games. The injury clearly has been bothering him, even though he insists it isn’t. Many of his teammates are hurt. Recuperation seems like the obvious choice.
But one star player poses a more difficult decision. James Cook leads the NFL in rushing yards, and he probably should play to ensure he becomes Buffalo’s first rushing champion in half a century.
Bills coach Sean McDermott has been coy about his approach to Sunday’s lineup, but he conceded Cook’s chase was on his mind.
The happiest Cook was all season was after his epic Week 8 performance against the Carolina Panthers, carrying 19 times for a career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns. (Matt Kelley / Getty Images)
Cook’s blockers didn’t mince words about their plans.
All hail King Cook.
“That’s one of the main things for our offense right now,” Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence said. “As an offensive lineman, to block for an MVP quarterback and a rushing champion in back-to-back seasons? That’s nice. That’s what we’re playing for in this last game.”
Buffalo has featured generations of fine running backs, but O.J. Simpson has been the only one to lead the NFL in rushing. His fourth and final crown came in 1976.
“Outside of the Super Bowl,” said Bills right tackle Spencer Brown, “the one thing you could tell your kids as an offensive lineman: ‘Back in ’25, we blocked for the rushing champ.’
“For a guy like Jimmy to get it is super special. He works hard. Does a lot of the right things. As an O-line, we take a lot of pride in getting that done for him.”
In a season when Buffalo’s offense has languished, Cook has been a reliable engine. A contract squabble over the summer had many Bills fans ready to dump him and move on. That notion was based on the opinion that running backs are replaceable and, on this team, just role players to ride Allen’s coattails. There was a palpable undercurrent of aggravation that Cook wasn’t grateful enough simply to have a job.
Nearly five months later, Cook enters the finale 47 yards ahead of Jonathan Taylor, 137 yards ahead of Derrick Henry and 161 yards ahead of Bijan Robinson. Taylor and Robinson play hollow games at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, while Henry has a win-to-get-in showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers at 8:20 p.m. (ET).
“Those three guys? Wow,” said Simpson’s best blocker, Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure. “That’s some competition.”
Even if Cook doesn’t play another down, his season will rank third in Bills history behind two of the NFL’s most astonishing campaigns: Simpson becoming the first to break the 2,000-yard rushing barrier in 1973 and going for 1,817 yards (towards a career-high 2,243 scrimmage yards with 23 touchdowns) in 1975.
Albeit not in consecutive seasons like Torrence is hoping to accomplish, DeLamielleure also blocked for MVP quarterback Brian Sipe with the Cleveland Browns.
“Josh Allen and James Cook are two of the best players I’ve ever seen play,” DeLamielleure said. “Those are really special players.
“James Cook is worth every penny. I can’t believe how good he is. He’s just a difference-maker.”
Sunday’s circumstances are unusual. McDermott doesn’t have a simple decision merely between resting his most irreplaceable players for the postseason or keeping them on the field to stay sharp.
Sunday will probably be the final game in Highmark Stadium, and the Bills are approaching it as such. McDermott has emphasized the importance of respecting the moment and playing the game for all of the organization’s employees who hold the place dear. He declared he’s playing to win.
“That stadium has been really good to us,” McDermott said. “It really has. I know I’ll miss it, and I’m not in a hurry at this point. I know this weekend’s the last game, but I think we all need to enjoy every last minute of it.”
Cook didn’t chat Wednesday with reporters and hasn’t commented about how much he wants to be the king. Brown said he hasn’t heard Cook talking about the rushing title at all.
When Cook skipped voluntary offseason workouts but chose to report for mandatory minicamp, he flatly explained he showed up because he likes money and didn’t want to get fined, but there is no contractual incentive to the rushing title.
Michael Ginnitti, founder and managing editor of sports contract database Spotrac, noted the extension Cook signed in August doesn’t include a bonus for leading the NFL in rushing. The incentives are relatively straightforward. Cook already has triggered an escalator that will increase his 2028 base salary from $9.68 million to $10.68 million because he played at least 45 percent of the offensive snaps this season, and Buffalo reached the playoffs.
But money isn’t all that matters. History does, too.
Maybe the happiest we’ve seen Cook all season was after his epic Week 8 performance against the Carolina Panthers. The stats were enough, 19 carries for a career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns. But he beamed when hearing all the names. The most since Simpson in 1976; Thurman Thomas, Marshawn Lynch and LeSean McCoy never chugged for that many yards as Bills.
Neither had his brother, Dalvin, over his decorated Minnesota Vikings career. Their sibling rivalry also seems to matter. Cook smiled at the idea of texting his brother on the flight home from Charlotte, N.C., to brag about the family record.
The closest Dalvin, a four-time Pro Bowler, got to a rushing title was a distant second place to Henry in 2020. Finishing on top also would go a long way toward being voted first-team All-Pro, something Dalvin never did.
Will Wolford has a unique perspective on playing or resting right before the postseason — and how chasing historical accolades is significant. He was the Indianapolis Colts’ radio analyst in 2009, when coach Jim Caldwell, despite the team being 14-0, decided not to chase an undefeated season and rested players with two games left.
He was also Buffalo’s left tackle for the first three Super Bowl seasons. In 1990, Thomas finished second in rushing, just 7 paltry yards behind his old Oklahoma State teammate, Barry Sanders.
“We were a little disappointed in that one,” Wolford said. “With Thurman, we were ready to go. Regardless, we treated that like a real game.
“Thurman probably pulled the plug on himself because he never really cared about his stats. He cared about winning. So if Thurman didn’t care, who were we?”
Wolford also lamented the role of offensive linemen in these watered-down, year-end games. In a dud finale against the Detroit Lions in 1991, Wolford got rolled up and suffered a high-ankle sprain that hobbled him throughout the postseason.
Teams don’t carry enough backup offensive linemen to rest all five starters. So, then, whom does a coach choose to rest? Buffalo’s depth chart has Ryan Van Demark as the backup at both tackle spots. Alec Anderson is listed as the top backup for center Connor McGovern, left guard David Edwards and Torrence.
“I really disliked — hated — the games at the end of the year that didn’t matter at all,” said Wolford, “because I knew, one, I was probably going to play in them, and, two, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, all the other guys were probably going to sit.
“By the end of the year, you’re pretty beat up. And at the end of the year, you’ve got to beat yourself up a little bit more for a game that doesn’t mean anything.”
Bills legend Cookie Gilchrist led the eight-team AFL twice, while Simpson is their lone NFL rushing king. Simpson won the title four times in the 1970s, his streak interrupted in 1974, when he finished 282 yards behind Denver Broncos running back Otis Armstrong.
After ranking second to Sanders in 1990, Thomas finished third each of the next three seasons. McCoy was fourth in 2017, the only other Bills back to finish among the top five until Cook finished fourth two years ago.
All of those teams were playoff bound, with Thomas reaching the Super Bowl each time he finished in the top three. During Simpson’s tenure, Buffalo made the playoffs just once. Rushing records were about all they had to play for by the end of the year.
“It was so different for us, especially when O.J. was going for 2,000 yards in 14 games because we were going for history,” DeLamielleure said. “That was some feat. I don’t think that will ever be matched again.
“For an offensive lineman, those are the only records you get.”
