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James Cook Key To Bills Slaying Ravens

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Adam Schultz | Last updated Jan 19, 2025 8:01 AM ET

The Buffalo Bills have been one of the most consistent teams in football this season, and now have a chance to get to the AFC Championship game for just the second time in Josh Allen's tenure.

In their way are the Baltimore Ravens, who blew the doors of Buffalo 35-10 in Week 4. In that game, the Bills' offense was forced to be one-dimensional due to getting behind big early.

That can't happen again and running back James Cook will have a big role to play in the Bills getting past the Ravens at Highmark Stadium.

Such is Cook's importance, NFL.com's Eric Edholm thinks No. 4 needs to have a big impact for the Bills.

"Lifting some of the run-game burden from Allen seems to have helped the Bills avoid asking their quarterback to bail them out of bad situations," Edholm writes. "The Week 4 loss to the Ravens was one of the few times this season when Allen was put in too many of those spots. The Bills know they can't repeat this script. Cook has to be involved early and often, both as a runner and receiver."

In the 31-7 win over the Denver Broncos, Cook had 23 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown as the Bills dominated time of possession. That needs to happen again.

But the Ravens' defense has only given up 100+ rushing yards just once in their last five games, and in four of those, kept the opposing offense to under 60 rushing yards.

So it looms as a tough task to get anything on the ground for the Bills, but if they are to make it to the conference championship, offensive coordinator Joe Brady must find a way to get Cook involved.

If he can't, Buffalo's season will end where it has all too often in the postseason under Allen.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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