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The Bills have so many ways to win
It feels strange to write this on a night when the Bills won their fifth-straight AFC East title but Week 13 provided a reminder of why this particular group feels more dynamic and versatile than many previous iterations.
The Bills’ Sunday Night Football win over the 49ers showed off just how many ways they can beat opponents.
The Bills have had a strong defense and one of the premier quarterbacks in football for the vast majority of the Sean McDermott era. We saw those at play on Sunday night but it wasn’t anything new. The most significant development, which isn’t exclusive to Week 13 but is more unique to this year’s Bills overall, was the dominance on the ground. As the snow fell throughout the game, a Bills team that’s toed the line of spread-happy and finesse for some of Josh Allen’s All-Pro years put on their big-boy pants and ran all over San Francisco from the jump.
The Bills started to transition toward a gap-based rushing attack when Joe Brady took over last season as the play-caller. If they’ve doubled down on that identity in 2024 overall, Week 13 provided a chance to go all-in on it.
James Cook has been an explosive play machine as a rusher when the offensive line gives him lanes on gap scheme runs this season. He did a lot of the heavy lifting, adding yards on his own in Week 13. In the first half alone, Cook added 9.2 yards after contact per rush. Next Gen Stats notes that Cook accumulated 102 of his 107 yards on plays with Jumbo personnel and he now leads the NFL in rushing yards and rush yards over expected on such carries. Some of the enthralling Bills teams of 2020 and 2021 leaning on teams with heavy personnel packages and running to win would be unthinkable.
Cook wasn’t the only back doing damage on Sunday night. Backup Ray Davis scored the opening Bills touchdown on a red-zone carry and averaged 6.3 yards per rush in the first half. He isn’t the combustive runner that Cook…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/week-13-caredont-care-the-san-francisco-49ers-are-done-043915035.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-12-02 04:39:00
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