The Buffalo Bills’ offense has found its legs in time to make a playoff push.
Josh Allen played the role of happy spectator on Sunday by standing back and watching James Cook run left, right and up the middle as Buffalo ran away with a 31-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
“I felt like the kid that didn’t do anything in a class project, but got an A,” Allen said after he threw for just 94 yards, with a touchdown passing and one rushing. “But I’ll do this 10 times out of 10 times, man. Like, keep going.”
Photo: Gregory Fisher-USA Today
A matchup of two of the NFL’s top-scoring quarterbacks — Allen entered the week with 35 total touchdowns, and Dak Prescott was first in passing touchdowns with 28 — turned into a Bills stampede. Cook finished with 179 yards rushing and 221 yards from scrimmage, both career bests, while scoring on an 18-yard catch and a 24-yard run as the Cowboys’ five-game winning streak was snapped.
His rushing total was the highest for a Bills player since Fred Jackson had 212 yards in a 2009 season-ending win over Indianapolis.
“I just let it rip when I get my opportunity,” said Cook, a second-year player who is the younger brother of New York Jets running back Dalvin Cook.
“My O-linemen, they were opening it up and I was hitting it. Finding that rhythm,” he added.
The Bills (8-6) won consecutive games for the first time since their three-game winning streak ended on Oct. 1 and gained ground in the American Football Conference playoff race, moving one game ahead of the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cowboys (10-4) clinched their third straight playoff berth before kickoff thanks to losses by the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and the Detroit Lions beating Denver on Saturday.
However, nothing else went right for Dallas, who fell a game behind the National Football Conference-best San Francisco 49ers.
Buffalo rushed for 266 yards, held the ball for 10 minutes longer than Dallas and had 28 first downs to the Cowboys’ 14.
The NFL’s top-scoring offense was limited to a field goal through 57 minutes. Dallas are 7-0 at home, where they have outscored opponents 279-108, but are 3-4 on the road, where they have been outscored 156-152.
“It’s a gap. That’s part of my message. We play so well at home, and there’s just too big of a gap in our road games,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “We are conscious of it. We have a long flight home to continue to talk about, think about [it].”
Dallas, coming off a 33-13 win over Philadelphia, play two of their last three on the road.
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