Cook, Bills run off with victory over Cowboys
Bills 31 Cowboys 10
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Bills’ offense has found its legs in time to make a playoff push.
Josh Allen played the role of happy spectator 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 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.”
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 TDs with 28 — turned into a Bills stampede. Cook finished with 179 yards rushing and 221 yards from scrimmage, both career bests, scoring on an 18-yard catch and a 24-yard run as the Cowboys’ five-game winning streak was snapped.
“I just let it rip when I get my opportunity,” Cook said. “My Olinemen, they were opening it up and I was hitting it. Finding that rhythm.”
The Bills (8-6) won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 1 and gained ground in the AFC playoff race, moving a game ahead of Denver and Pittsburgh.
The Cowboys (10-4) clinched their third straight playoff berth before kickoff thanks to losses by Green Bay and Atlanta and Saturday’s win by Detroit over Denver. But nothing else went right for Dallas, which fell a game behind NFC-best San Francisco.
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. The Cowboys, who are 7-0 at home — where they’ve outscored opponents 279-108 — dropped to 3-4 on the road, where they’ve been outscored 156-152.
“We play so well at home, and there’s just too big of a gap in our road games,” coach Mike McCarthy said.
Dallas plays two of its last three on the road.
The Bills played keep-away by running the ball in a persistent rain, tripping up a Cowboys offense that finished with a season-low 195 yards.
Buffalo’s injury-depleted defense had three sacks and limited Prescott to 134 yards passing with an interception. Dallas punted five times and was limited to eight first downs before gaining six on its final drive.
Latavius Murray capped Buffalo’s 12-play, 75-yard opening drive with a 2-yard run. The Bills went up 14-0 on Cook’s 18-yard catch on their third drive, and the game was essentially over after the opening drive of the third, which ate up 8:22 and ended with Tyle Bass’s 23-yard field goal and a 24-3 lead.
The Bills are trying to secure a fifth straight playoff berth and stay in contention for a fourth consecutive AFC East title.