James Cook plays meaningful snaps, posts 76 total yards -

Cook totaled 76 yards from scrimmage on just 6 touches in Sunday night’s 27-17 win over the Packers

After six games of mostly meaningless touches, the Bills showed Sunday night that they are beginning to trust rookie running back James Cook when it counts.

Cook was the featured back for the Bills on their first drive of the second quarter, when Buffalo was only leading Green Bay by a touchdown, and he didn’t disappoint. He carried the ball on three straight plays and gained a total of 28 yards, with his first run going for 17.

James Cook w/ some BIG runs tonight. pic.twitter.com/EUF8GIRsWM
— Buffalo Bills Updates (@BloBillsUpdates) October 31, 2022

Cook’s next touches came in the fourth quarter. His most impactful play of the night saw him lined up as a slot receiver. He ran a slant pattern and hauled in a fingertip catch from Josh Allen, who threw after scrambling to his left. Cook stayed with the play, and once he made the catch, he had his sights downfield. The catch and run went for 41 yards down to the Green Bay 7-yard line:

James Cook showing off his ability in the receiving game 👀

The longest reception of his young career (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/wyDz4qp0vX
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) October 31, 2022

Cook carried the ball five times for 35 rush yards and had one catch for 41 yards, but most importantly, this happened when the Bills were still trying to put the Packers away.

Cook was in on 25% of Buffalo’s offensive plays Sunday night compared to Devin Singletary’s 75%, per Sal Capaccio. That is Cook’s best snap percentage of the year other than extensive play in garbage time in Week 2 against Tennessee.

Cook ended up being PFF’s top-graded Bill from Sunday (88.2), granted he only played 15 total snaps.

Buffalo Bills @PFF Grades

Offense
1) James Cook- 88.2
2) Stefon Diggs- 84.0
3) Devin Singletary- 80.9
4) Josh Allen- 73.9
5) Ryan Bates- 70.5

Defense
1) Tim Settle- 75.9
2) Dane Jackson- 70.5
3) Von Miller- 70.5
4) Ed Oliver- 67.5
5) Jaquan Johnson- 66.3
— Peter DiBiasi (@DibiasiPeter) October 31, 2022

It also seems that Cook has solidified the RB2 spot behind Singletary, overtaking Zack Moss who did not see any action on Sunday night.

Though things are beginning to look up for Cook now, they certainly weren’t in Week 1 when be fumbled away his first career carry versus the Rams. The spotlight seemed too bright for the rookie that evening, but after six games of slowly getting acclimated into the Bills offense, he took advantage of his playing time Sunday night. He showed the nation glimpses of why the Bills took him 63^rd overall in this year’s draft.