James Cook was one of the engines that ran the Buffalo Bills this season. However, the star running back wasn't quite himself in their last two games. He had a season-low 49 yards against the New England Patriots in Week 5 and an 87-yard game in Week 6 after three straight 100+ yard games. Both games ended in losses for Buffalo, which showed just how integral Cook was to their success.
That theory was once again proved in Week 8 against the Carolina Panthers. With the Bills coming off a bye week, the pressure was on them to deliver a statement. Cook authored that strong statement, rushing for 216 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 40-6 blowout of the Panthers.
After the game, Cook cited a great practice week as the reason for their success. The Bills' running back also pointed out that “urgency” was the recurring theme during their bye week.
“We just went back to the fundamentals and just stayed true to us,” Cook told Albert Breer. “It showed today. We had a long, hard week of practice, a great week of practice, probably the best week of practice since I’ve been here. We just gotta keep grinding and keep working hard, and see how it goes… Urgency. The attention to detail in how we were working. Just getting back on track was our main thing.”
While the Bills were still 4-2 heading into their bye week, there was still a good reason for the urgency during their practices. The Patriots have steadily climbed up the rankings and are challenging the Bills for the AFC East title. Dropping to 4-3 on the season would have cleared the runway for New England to take control of the division again. Notching an easy win against an overmatched opponent was not only expected, it was all but required.
The Bills looked every bit like the contender they are meant to be. It's easy to look good against a bad team, yes, but the manner in which they dispatched Carolina was great. They scored 40 points against a weak defense and held the Bryce Young-less team to just six points. It's a great get-right game before their marquee matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs next week.
