James Cook — Week 2: Twenty and Thirty-Five, Back to Back
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Friday, Sep 18
Cook carried 21 times for 135 yards and a one-yard touchdown, with runs of 20 and 35 on back-to-back snaps in the second quarter and 22 to the one in the fourth, and caught one of three targets for four yards. Three of his carries came inside the ten, in a 41–31 win over the Lions.
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21 to seven, Bills, four 56 left in the half, first and 10 at the Buffalo 32. James Cook went 20 up the middle to the Detroit 48, and on the next snap 35 off left guard to the 13. +3.5 expected points added on the two plays — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and Dalton Kincaid caught the touchdown two plays later, after a holding penalty. That was the drive: four plays, three of them Cook.
The line: 21 carries, a hundred 35 yards, one touchdown, seven first downs, 10 of the 21 successful, +5.0 expected points on the carries; three targets, one catch for four yards. 11 carries before halftime for a hundred and one yards, 10 after for 34. The long ones: 12 on the opening drive, 10 to the Detroit 15, the 20 and the 35, and 22 off right tackle to the one with three-oh-one left in the fourth, up 34 to 24. The touchdown came on the next play. The other 16 carries gained 36 yards, and nine of them gained one or fewer.
Inside the 10, the number the Week 1 episode said to watch: three carries. First and two at the two in the second quarter, one yard to the one, and Josh Allen threw to Dawson Knox for the score. First and six at the six in the third, two yards plus a face mask penalty to the two, and Allen scrambled in. First and one at the one in the fourth, Cook, touchdown. One of three, and the other two set up a score on the next snap.
The split: Cook 21 designed runs, Allen six +5 scrambles, DJ Moore one. 33 rush plays and 33 pass plays, and the run game came out at +13.6 expected points as a unit, the pass game at +15.1. Cook's three targets were second and six at the nine, incomplete, four yards on second and six in the third, and an incompletion on first and 10 at the Detroit 40.
Back in June the preview called Cook one of the more stable backfield profiles in the league, a sixth-place finish among running backs across all 17 games, on which the market and the data had shaken hands. Week 1 was 13 carries for 57 with the goal-line work going to the quarterback. Thursday was 21 for a hundred 35 with a touchdown from the one, and the two carries closest to the goal line that did not score still put the ball at the one and the two. Two games, one of each kind, and the volume held in both. Buffalo is home to the Chargers on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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