Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills haven’t had an NFL rushing leader since O.J. Simpson in 1976, but James Cook is on the doorstep. Cook took the 2025 rushing yardage lead over the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor in Week 16 and did not relinquish it in Week 17.
Cook enters Week 18 with 1606 yards followed by Taylor at 1559 and Derrick Henry back at 1469.
Partially helping Cook through the process is the schedule. The Colts play at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, so the team will know how many yards Cook needs before kickoff at 4:25 p.m. Eastern. Henry plays on Sunday night and still has an outside shot at the league lead as his team fights for a playoff berth.
If you wonder whether or not the Bills will play Cook with not much on the line, Buffalo kept him in the contest for the final game of the 2024 season in order for him to pass O.J. Simpson for the most rushing touchdowns in a single season in team history.
There is no financial incentive for Cook to win the rushing title. While Josh Allen earned a $1 million bonus for being MVP, Cook’s bonuses are tied to playing time and team performance.
His offensive lineman are ready to stay in the game to pave the way for history.
“That’s one of the main things for our offense right now,” Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence told The Athletic this week. “As an offensive lineman, to block for an MVP quarterback and a rushing champion in back-to-back seasons? That’s nice. That’s what we’re playing for in this last game.”
Right tackle Spencer Brown agreed:
“Outside of the Super Bowl, the one thing you could tell your kids as an offensive lineman: ‘Back in ’25, we blocked for the rushing champ.’”
Cook has the most rushing yards by a Bills running back since 1975 when Simpson rushed for 1817 yards. Simpson’s team record was 2003 yards in 1973. Cook is going to finish with the third-best rushing season in team history in terms of total yards and likely fourth in yards per game behind Simpson in 1973, 1975, and 1976 when they played 14 games. Cookie Gilchrist led the AFL in rushing twice.
For those of you asking, Thurman Thomas never led the league in rushing yards. He led the league in scrimmage yards for four consecutive seasons from 1989 to 1992 and that number includes both rushing and receiving yards. Thomas finished just seven yards behind Barry Sanders in 1990.
