BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The way to win in the NFL, according to Marv Levy:
Run and stop the run. It’s that simple.
The Bills have mastered half of that formula as evidenced by Sunday’s 31-19 win over the Saints and their 4-0 record.
They’ve got to stop the run and they probably will as the season moves along. But they are running the ball more often and more successfully than any team in the NFL. And that’s in a league that showcases the forward pass.
The Bills lead the league with 133 rushing attempts. Their 654 yards and nine touchdowns also lead the league. They average a robust 4.9 yards per rushing attempts.
The main reason for their success on the ground is the continued improvement of James Cook.
“Seems like he’s getting better each and every week,” says Josh Allen. “It’s hard to imagine – the way that he kinda has this patience to hit the hole but when he hits it – he’s shot out of a cannon.”
“His contact balance is unbelievable,” Allen raves. “His jump cuts are awesome. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Cook has run 75 times for 401 yards this year. His five rushing touchdowns lead the league. Yesterday he got 117 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown. If he keeps up his current pace, he’s have the third most rushing yards in a season behind only O.J. Simpson.
Yesterday he got the bulk of the work at running back-91% of the carries. In the first three games he got 75% of the work. Maybe the coaching staff is convinced of his value,
The third quarter scoring drive that put the Bills in the driver’s seat Sunday was built around James Cook. He broke off a 10-yard run on the first play and followed that up with a 15-yard run through traffic. He ran the ball through Saints players tackle attempts and got half the yardage of the drive, which eventually ended with Allen’s five-yard touchdown run.
And Cook was running behind an offensive line without one of its best players: right tackle Spencer Brown. His backup, Ryan Van Demark, did a more than an adequate job.
Now to the other half of Marv Levy’s formula: stop the run.
New Orleans got 189 yards on the ground, 5.6 yards per carry. Way too much.
Without two starters on defense, Ed Oliver and Matt Milano, you’d expect some drop off. But the Bills thought they had addressed the problem with the addition of big bodies on the defensive line. So far, they haven’t.
And the linebacking duo of Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams is small by NFL standards and gets taken advantage of,
Help is coming in the form of return from injuries and suspension. The Bills just keep winning through the easy part of schedule.
Kansas City is coming Nov. 2.
John Murphy, the longtime Voice of the Bills and former News 4 sports director, now writes columns for WIVB.com. Find more of his work here.