Speaker 1: Glad you're back with us here on Bills by the Numbers,
Speaker 1: where we let the stats tell you where the Bills
Speaker 1: are at. We're presented by Fan Duel make every moment
Speaker 1: more up. Next, just how historic the season could James
Speaker 1: Cooks have? With ten regular season games to play? Should
Speaker 1: the Bills offense be as balanced as they are? Or
Speaker 1: is it time to prop up their pass game? And
Speaker 1: should James Cook be a part of that passing game?
Speaker 1: To use him in an expanded fashion? Steve is quizzed
Speaker 1: on Bill's running back history, and we'll have our one
Speaker 1: turning question. Somebody take the dang hand off already. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us here on Bills by the Numbers. He's
Speaker 1: Wall of Famer Steve Tasker on Bill's play by playman
Speaker 1: Chris Brown, and we kick it off with the remarkable
Speaker 1: first half of the season James Cook has had through
Speaker 1: seven games, Buffalo's feature back ranks second in the NFL
Speaker 1: in rushing with seven hundred and fifty three yards. His
Speaker 1: average of six yards per carry leads the league. He's
Speaker 1: third in first downs created, fourth in total yards from scrimmage,
Speaker 1: and tied for fifth in scoring. At his current pace,
Speaker 1: Cook would finish with eighteen hundred and twenty eight yards rushing,
Speaker 1: which would be the second best rushing season in Bill's history,
Speaker 1: behind Hall of Famer O. J. Simpsons two thousand and
Speaker 1: three rushing season in nineteen seventy three. It would also
Speaker 1: be the twentieth best rushing season in NFL history. Steve,
Speaker 1: do you believe he hits that number, exceeds it, or
Speaker 1: falls short?
Speaker 2: First of all, let me preface everything by saying, Chris
Speaker 2: brown has been on the James Cook train since it
Speaker 2: was sitting in a station in Georgia before he was
Speaker 2: even drafted. So let me just give kudos to Brownie,
Speaker 2: and he is a James Cook advocate all the time. Anyway,
Speaker 2: Having said that, I think he's gonna fall a little
Speaker 2: bit short because he's been so spectacular it's hard to
Speaker 2: keep that going through. Yeah, somebody's gonna come up with
Speaker 2: a game that's gonna put him off track and put
Speaker 2: him behind the sticks on that eighteen hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: eight number, But he's still I mean maybe what fourteen
Speaker 2: hundred yards fifty that's a big season and it would
Speaker 2: validate the contract and all the conversation that we had
Speaker 2: about him in the offseason. I do think I don't
Speaker 2: think he can make it that far because of what
Speaker 2: it's going to take to win games going down the stretch.
Speaker 2: And even though though having said that, it'll be one
Speaker 2: of the great seasons in Bill's history, it could be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm I'm thinking he's gonna end up somewhere around
Speaker 1: fifteen to sixteen. Yeah, somewhere in there, because when we
Speaker 1: get to December, you know, when the weather turns and
Speaker 1: he's good in the snow, I think I think fifteen
Speaker 1: to sixteen hundred is within reach. Eighteen hundred would be extraordinary, right, yes,
Speaker 1: it would. I mean seventeen Even me, the biggest believer
Speaker 1: in James Cook, would be impressed by that.
Speaker 2: That's that's a big number. But as we've seen, he's
Speaker 2: playing in the right system to have it have some
Speaker 2: opportunity because of the quarterback he's got, and teams aren't
Speaker 2: you know, they know they they know Josh is the MVP.
Speaker 2: The Bills want to try and beat him with a
Speaker 2: run game instead of the throwing game. With that with
Speaker 2: that guy, maybe they give him the opportunity to do it.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 1: Right now, Cook has a rushing success rate of sixty
Speaker 1: six point seven percent, far and away the best in
Speaker 1: the league, so much so that it's six percent better
Speaker 1: than his next closest pursuer, the rams Kyron Williams, and
Speaker 1: ten percent better than Jonathan Taylor of the Colts, who
Speaker 1: is killing it by the way as well. In Week eight,
Speaker 1: Cook had the most rushing yards in a game this
Speaker 1: season and did not even play in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: It's the most rushing yards in a game in the
Speaker 1: last thirty five seeds seas by a player who did
Speaker 1: not have a carry in the final Stanza. It's rare stuff.
Speaker 1: Has it been successful enough to justify being the only
Speaker 1: team in the league, however, that runs the ball more
Speaker 1: than fifty percent of the time on offense?
Speaker 2: Steve Well, yeah, I mean that they won the game,
Speaker 2: but we're.
Speaker 1: Talking over the whole season here. Do you want to
Speaker 1: be a fifty to fifty run pass team when you
Speaker 1: have the MVP at quarterback?
Speaker 2: Well, I think you know what you have in your quarterback.
Speaker 2: And I think they've got more confidence, particularly when they're healthy,
Speaker 2: in their weapons outside than most fans do because they
Speaker 2: haven't seen it. And because of that, I think they
Speaker 2: don't want to put the burden on seventeen on Josh
Speaker 2: Allen every single game whenever they can if they don't
Speaker 2: have to, and there have been games when they have
Speaker 2: not had to, and they're also I think even in
Speaker 2: the losses they suffered this year, particularly in the Patriots loss,
Speaker 2: you know, the turnovers really hurt him, Josh turning the
Speaker 2: ball over and Keon dropping the ball in their own end,
Speaker 2: deeping the Bill's own end. Offensively, that put them in
Speaker 2: the eight ball. That's a game they should have, could
Speaker 2: have would have won had it not been for the
Speaker 2: offense stumbling like it did. So I think they're okay
Speaker 2: with where they're at offensively, whether it's fifty percent run
Speaker 2: or fifty five percent run forty pass or fifty percent
Speaker 2: pass or even more whatever, because they I think they
Speaker 2: believe when they go to Josh and turn that faucet on,
Speaker 2: it's going to pour out.
Speaker 1: Okay, after last week's game, which skewed the numbers a
Speaker 1: little bit because they ran the balls for so many
Speaker 1: yards and so successfully, it's now fifty two run forty
Speaker 1: eight percent pass for the Bills. They're the only team
Speaker 1: that's at the fifty percent mark or over. And look,
Speaker 1: it's gotten them to a five and two record, But
Speaker 1: I think there are some out there who say, are
Speaker 1: you almost costing this offense more production by choosing to
Speaker 1: run it more than you throw it? Even with the
Speaker 1: advent of more teams running the ball more often than
Speaker 1: we saw five seasons ago when people were throwing it
Speaker 1: all over the yard, some teams were like sixty five
Speaker 1: thirty five. I just wonder if the offense might be
Speaker 1: even more productive than it already is, and it's hard
Speaker 1: to argue with almost thirty points a game. I wonder
Speaker 1: if it would be even more productive if they go
Speaker 1: just fifty five pass forty five run, and maybe it
Speaker 1: gets there by the end of the season, who knows.
Speaker 2: I think it sounds counterintuitive, but I.
Speaker 1: Wonder if it's blasphemy Steve to not utilize Josh Allen's
Speaker 1: talents more than they are in the passing game. Or
Speaker 1: maybe is there a that the heavy run approach is
Speaker 1: by design to help a defense while still shorthanded due
Speaker 1: to injury. What about that premise?
Speaker 2: Maybe, yeah, that's all possible. I think, and this may
Speaker 2: sound counterintuitive, that they may feel like doing it the
Speaker 2: way they're doing it gives them best chance to win
Speaker 2: games rather than chase stats. Right, They're in the business
Speaker 2: of winning, and each of these games falls differently. So
Speaker 2: when you take the cumulative numbers about the season, sometimes
Speaker 2: it's not as accurate as what a team is capable
Speaker 2: of as it was about the matchups and what won
Speaker 2: games and how the game got out of hand. This,
Speaker 2: particularly this Carolina game, like right and the Jet game
Speaker 2: earlier in the season, excues the statistics because of where
Speaker 2: they're at on the scoreboard. I think this is a
Speaker 2: team that has a recipe for winning every game, and
Speaker 2: certainly it may alter a little bit game to game,
Speaker 2: but the big picture doesn't always paint the accurate picture,
Speaker 2: doesn't give you the the nuts and bolts of how
Speaker 2: they're gonna win. So I think the way they won
Speaker 2: in Carolina certainly is not how they're gonna beat the
Speaker 2: Kansas City Chiefs. So I think taking the big picture,
Speaker 2: while it has some value, I don't think they care
Speaker 2: game to game or in the big picture of what
Speaker 2: it looks like game to game. And I think it's counterintuitive,
Speaker 2: but I think they may be more interested in and
Speaker 2: I know it sounds in playing the run pass ratio
Speaker 2: in the small in the small sense, rather than the
Speaker 2: big sense, then we're gonna run at this game because
Speaker 2: it's gonna help us win. I think they're in the
Speaker 2: business of winning games more so than looking at the
Speaker 2: statistics and thinking it looks good. And I think the
Speaker 2: way the schedule has fallen with the Jets, with the
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers and you know, and the others who they've
Speaker 2: the Saints game, they just exkews the big picture numbers.
Speaker 2: So whether they're fifty five percent run and thirty percent
Speaker 2: pass has something to do with that. Now, in the
Speaker 2: New England game, it got down to turnovers and penalties.
Speaker 2: Falcons game. That was the one game where it was
Speaker 2: a little bit of an aberration, I believe offensively when
Speaker 2: they struggled to protect, struggle to move the ball, and
Speaker 2: I think that game got away from him. But the
Speaker 2: other six, including the Patriots game, I think they're right
Speaker 2: on schedule with where they want to be, all.
Speaker 1: Right, So let's let's expand this conversation with respect to
Speaker 1: the passing game. Should James Cook be utilized as a
Speaker 1: mismatch in the passing game to help expand its usage
Speaker 1: and production to get his breakaway ability out in space
Speaker 1: more often?
Speaker 2: Yes, I am all about that I think, leave him
Speaker 2: on the field as much as you can. That doesn't
Speaker 2: mean you can't. I mean, and I don't think you
Speaker 2: should be preoccupied with getting him more opportunities. But certainly
Speaker 2: nobody's going to complain about more opportunities for him, particularly
Speaker 2: in the past. Hi, it's the one thing that they
Speaker 2: haven't had it now. They didn't have to do that
Speaker 2: last week. I get it. And the same thing in
Speaker 2: the Jet game, same thing in the Saints game. Some
Speaker 2: of this stuff. The Bills can leave whole sections of
Speaker 2: their playbook closed and never go to them, So I
Speaker 2: get that. But they're in some of these games, particularly
Speaker 2: the Atlanta game and perhaps maybe the Patriot game, or
Speaker 2: particularly in the Patriot game, there was some instances where
Speaker 2: they needed to unfurl some stuff and we didn't see it,
Speaker 2: or at least we didn't feel like we saw it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I believe James Cook. When he's having the
Speaker 2: kind of season he's showing the kind of abilities and
Speaker 2: the things that he's doing right now, I think more
Speaker 2: opportunities are better, not worse. And if you throw it
Speaker 2: to him, that's fine.
Speaker 1: And I would wholeheartedly agree the more touches for James
Speaker 1: Cook the better for this offense, right and I think
Speaker 1: with a passing game that has looked a little disjointed
Speaker 1: in recent weeks, he could help in that with you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's intermedia throws, short throws in space, yards after catch,
Speaker 1: whatever you want from the passing game, I think he
Speaker 1: could help in that vein because to me, he is
Speaker 1: a mismatch on any linebacker and any safety in the league,
Speaker 1: any of them. So why not get him in a
Speaker 1: one on one matchup? Not to mention the fact that
Speaker 1: with as strong as this run game is, you could
Speaker 1: line him up in the backfield and they're gonna put
Speaker 1: with three tight ends if you want two whatever the
Speaker 1: other team's putting three linebackers on the field. Then you
Speaker 1: motion him out late pre snap, and now you've got
Speaker 1: him on a linebacker or at worse, the safety advantage
Speaker 1: buffalo every single time. So to me, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Now here would you be surprised to know that James
Speaker 1: Cook has not had a passing target since Week five?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I knew that against the Patriots, that was something
Speaker 2: I thought. I was a little surprised. I was a
Speaker 2: little surprised by that, no question about it. They just
Speaker 2: and I you know.
Speaker 1: It's not a question of are they using him enough.
Speaker 1: They're not using him.
Speaker 2: All I was, it's completely gone away. And there's been
Speaker 2: a couple of games where you know, he's obviously no targets,
Speaker 2: no catches.
Speaker 1: And not on the field sometimes and two minutes drill.
Speaker 2: So I think they need to they need to fix that.
Speaker 1: B John Robinson. They're not. They're not afraid about using
Speaker 1: him too much.
Speaker 2: In Atlanta and I they got a lot of faith
Speaker 2: in Tid Johnson. I get that, but there are some
Speaker 2: guys in the like well like Keon. If sit him down,
Speaker 2: put James on the on the field and use some
Speaker 2: different formations, get some guys who have been productive in
Speaker 2: the passing game, it just makes it just makes too
Speaker 2: much sense to use him when he got It's the
Speaker 2: old adage a bit of investments, when when you keep
Speaker 2: giving more investment capital to one thing and it keeps
Speaker 2: getting bigger and bigger returns, you keep putting more money
Speaker 2: into it. Yeah, let's give those guys more opportunities, like
Speaker 2: James Cook.
Speaker 1: All right, good discussion there. We now quiz Steve on
Speaker 1: Bill's running back history in the numbers game. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Steve all right, there we go. Question number one. Only
Speaker 1: two players are on the list for the top seven
Speaker 1: single season most total yards from scrimmage in Bill's history.
Speaker 1: They are Hall of famers OJ Simpson and Thurman Thomas.
Speaker 1: Which one of those two names appears more often in
Speaker 1: those top seven single season total yards from scrimmage?
Speaker 2: Thurman?
Speaker 1: And you would be correct? Four times?
Speaker 2: He let Yeah, he led the league four times. He
Speaker 2: only got to ever do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, pretty impressive. Question number two. Therman Thomas holds
Speaker 1: three of the top five spots for most total touches
Speaker 1: in a regular season in Bill's history. This other Bill's
Speaker 1: running back holds the other two spots, and his name
Speaker 1: is Knox OJ Simpson. Who is it? Freddy Jackson? It
Speaker 1: is not fred Jackson. That's a good guess, though.
Speaker 2: Wow, okay is it? Wow? You got me with that one.
Speaker 1: That's tough.
Speaker 2: I'll say.
Speaker 1: Willis is not Willis mcgahey. Oh. Travis Henry, Travis Henravis Henry.
Speaker 1: Travis Henry had three hundred sixty eight total touches in
Speaker 1: two thousand and two and three hundred and fifty nine
Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. Let's go tea hen Question
Speaker 1: number three after oj Simpson's twenty three total touchdown from
Speaker 1: scrimmage in a season. What Bill's back ranks second in
Speaker 1: total touchdowns twenty Yeah, it's not Thurman. Freddy not Freddy.
Speaker 2: Uh, CJ, not CJ.
Speaker 1: It's the guy we've been talking about this whole episode.
Speaker 1: James Cook Cook eighteen total touchdowns the last season. Wow,
Speaker 1: that is second most.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Uh. Question for what Bill holds the record for longest
Speaker 1: rushing touchdown in team history?
Speaker 2: What Bill holds the longest the record.
Speaker 1: From longest rushing touchdowns?
Speaker 2: Gotta be juice.
Speaker 1: It is not Oj Simpson. Someone has top ten.
Speaker 2: CJ.
Speaker 1: That's a good guess, but incorrect.
Speaker 2: James Cook.
Speaker 1: It is not James Cook. This is a guy who
Speaker 1: would not guess to have a lot have won this
Speaker 1: long but he did. Freddy, it is fred Jackson. Eighty
Speaker 1: yards October sixteenth, twenty eleven against the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: I actually watched it back this week. Serpentine, Serpentine, serpentine, serpet.
Speaker 2: Freddy's not outrunning on too many people, but he is.
Speaker 1: He used to be hyper aware of who was trailing him,
Speaker 1: and he would cut right when the guy was gonna
Speaker 1: jump at it. Freddie was.
Speaker 2: He's one of those guys that if you're fast enough
Speaker 2: to catch him, you might not be big enough or
Speaker 2: strong enough to kit him down because he's got a
Speaker 2: he had a forearm that was in like a taser gun.
Speaker 2: And then if you were big enough, strong enough to
Speaker 2: tackle him, he might not be fast enough to catch him.
Speaker 2: Just right in that and there's right in between there,
Speaker 2: and he was physical and aware, like you say, aware enough,
Speaker 2: if you're fast enough to catch him, you might have
Speaker 2: had to like pick your spot.
Speaker 1: That's what it was.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: It looked like a game of pac Man. He's like
Speaker 1: runningto the end zone. There's three guys after him, and
Speaker 1: right at the last second, he sees this guy over
Speaker 1: his left shoulder and he comes back to the left
Speaker 1: and the guy, oh, he misses it. He gets into
Speaker 1: the end zone. It was a great run eighty yards
Speaker 1: the team record. Bill's fans. Get in on the action
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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, we now ask our one burning question. Khalil
Speaker 1: Shakir currently ranked second in the NFL in yards after
Speaker 1: catch among receivers with two hundred and ninety four. He
Speaker 1: is second only to Cincinnati's Jamar Chase, who has three
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty six yards after the catch. Will
Speaker 1: Shakir lead all receivers in yards after the catch at
Speaker 1: season's end.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. Not. He's trailing by too much
Speaker 2: by Jamar.
Speaker 1: He's about sixty yards behind a little more than sixty
Speaker 1: yards behind.
Speaker 2: He's probably he's gonna get some. That's what he does.
Speaker 2: He's very good at that. He's elite at yards after catch.
Speaker 2: He's elite. I'm gonna have to say no, just because
Speaker 2: of the opportunities and other guys in the league and
Speaker 2: how hard it is to do. I think he's gonna
Speaker 2: have a ton and I think they're gonna continue to
Speaker 2: use him like that because he's really good at it.
Speaker 2: But he's also had a bunch of long ones already.
Speaker 2: Teams are gonna, you know, no, I'm gonna say no.
Speaker 2: I don't think he can.
Speaker 1: I got a forty five yard and a fifty four
Speaker 1: yard both for touchdowns already through the first seven games, right,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have some more. I think he finishes in
Speaker 1: the top five, Yes, maybe even the top three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: If he finishes at it would be a heck of
Speaker 1: an accomplished go And you know he's got to stay healthy.
Speaker 2: And who knows, he's second in the league.
Speaker 1: He's played one less game than a lot of teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's second in the league among receivers. The running backs
Speaker 1: usually lead that category, but among receivers he's number two.
Speaker 1: Right now, I think he could finish in the top
Speaker 1: five among receivers. Our closing figure got to give credit
Speaker 1: to Steve on this. He pointed this one out in
Speaker 1: the stat sheet this week. Our closing figure deals with
Speaker 1: the Bills Chiefs matchup in Week ten. This is the
Speaker 1: tenth meeting between or sorry week nine, This is the
Speaker 1: tenth meeting between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Overall, in
Speaker 1: those ten meetings, Mahomes has the better record of five
Speaker 1: and four, but the point totals in the previous nine matchups,
Speaker 1: if you add them all together, are separated by a
Speaker 1: single point. Kansas City with two hundred and forty three
Speaker 1: points scored to Buffalo's two hundred forty two.
Speaker 2: Absolutely crazy. You can't take your eyes off this game.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a good one. That'll do it for
Speaker 1: this episode, be sure to subscribe on whatever podcast platform
Speaker 1: you use, or watch us on the Bills YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: because when you need to know about the Bills, you
Speaker 1: need to check Bills by the Numbers For Steves After,
Speaker 1: I'm Chris Brown. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 1: Everybody