CHARLOTTE -- Running back James Cook III had just completed a career day with a performance for the record books as the Buffalo Bills defeated the Carolina Panthers 40-9 to improve to 5-2.
But as he stood at the lectern and answered postgame questions, he felt like he could play again. "I don't feel like I got hit," Cook said.
Cook and, importantly, the offensive line controlled the day on that side of the ball, and he finished with 216 rushing yards, the most by a Bills player since 1976 (O.J. Simpson) and the sixth-most in a game in franchise history. To his point, of Cook's 216 yards, 168 came before first contact, the most by a Bills player since ESPN began tracking yards after contact in 2009.
All that against a defense that was allowing 92.6 rushing yards per game coming into the week.
"When you've got James Cook, just let him cook," quarterback Josh Allen said of his running back's performance.
It almost appeared Cook's biggest contact of the day was self-inflicted on a leap into the end zone with right tackle Spencer Brown commenting to ESPN that Cook "celebrates hard." A trait that brings energy to the offense.
To reflect just how decisive a win the Bills had off the bye week, on top of Cook's big day Allen also broke an NFL record for the most games with a rushing and passing touchdown (46), one he had shared with former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Allen scored two rushing and one passing touchdowns.
The Bills avoided a three-game losing streak with the win in Carolina and came out of the bye on the right note. That was especially important with the looming week ahead for Buffalo as the team is set to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS). The team will look to duplicate some of the efficiency of this performance into the upcoming match against an AFC foe.
"I think the sky's the limit for this offense. I don't think that we could be put in a box for anything," fullback Reggie Gilliam said. "Last year, there was a lot of times where we were, maybe for a couple of weeks we were running outside zones, or maybe this week we were running inside zone. There's nothing that it's like, OK, this is what they do."
Cook's 753 rushing yards this season are the most by a Bills player through seven games since 1975 (Simpson, 1,005). This offense has shown time and time again through seven games that it is significantly better with Cook on the field as it prepares to face a Chiefs defense that has allowed the 22nd most yards per rush going into Monday (4.5).
The running back scored on a 64-yard touchdown and a 21-yard touchdown, while the Bills' other big yardage touchdown came on 50-plus yards after catch on a pass from Allen to wide receiver Khalil Shakir. Cook finished the game with six receptions for 88 yards and the score.
The unknown for the Bills offense, however, is the lack of downfield passing game -- Allen had several plays with no open receivers available against the Panthers. One example was a sack in the second quarter that saw Allen scrambling for 10.9 seconds, the second-longest time to sack this season, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
"Not concerned at all. I think if I can go back and change a couple of things, trust my feet, get through my progressions, we wouldn't even be talking about this," Allen said of the first-half passing game.
Allen noted that some of the lack of trusting his feet was a bit of eagerness from himself to make a play, especially coming off the bye. But a rough first half from Allen does not take away from the ongoing trend of outside receivers not being effective enough.
Against the Panthers, it wasn't a significant obstacle as Allen's scrambles to find an open receiver and misfires became blips in an otherwise runaway performance. Wide receiver remains an issue as the trade deadline approaches. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady said that he is not concerned about the passing game, noting how they didn't need it versus the Panthers, but did say it's an area that they know they need to improve.
"At the end of the day, we got to be able to throw the football," coach Sean McDermott said. "That's a big belief of mine and philosophically speaking, the two-dimensional approach is, whether we're throwing the running backs, tight ends, wide receivers, we've got to be able to throw the football or else you're going to end up sitting in a one-dimensional style offense."
As for the Bills defense, the unit saw some real highs against Carolina -- much needed after some concerning performances in the first six weeks.
The return of defensive end Michael Hoecht from a six-game suspension saw him play 64.4% of snaps as he recorded 1.5 of the unit's seven sacks on Carolina's quarterback Andy Dalton.
The defense forced three takeaways, a season high, and only allowed three points through three quarters.
There was a rotation between cornerback Tre'Davious White and rookie Maxwell Hairston -- something to watch moving forward -- and rookie Jordan Hancock came in on some passing third downs in place of Jordan Poyer.
The Bills pressured Dalton on 44% of his dropbacks and are now pressuring opposing quarterbacks on 40% of their dropbacks this season, their highest pressure percentage through seven games since ESPN began tracking pressure in 2009. It's also the fourth-highest rate by any team since 2009 and should only continue.
Going into the Chiefs' Monday night game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes is tied for 14th in completion percentage when pressured, per Next Gen Stats, and his average time before passing when pressured is 17th (3.52 seconds), per ESPN Research.
On the other hand, there's the lack of depth at defensive tackle.
This was a position the Bills were already hurting at, but then right before halftime starter Ed Oliver (biceps) was quickly ruled out. He officially suffered a torn left biceps and is out indefinitely, per McDermott. The healthy bodies remaining include rookie Deone Walker, Larry Ogunjobi (back from suspension), Jordan Phillips, Phidarian Mathis and Zion Logue on the practice squad. Hoecht also spent time inside on Sunday and can be of help there.
Adding at the position has become a real possibility with no rest ahead. What awaits is a challenge the Bills are plenty familiar with.
"We have a ton of respect for [the Chiefs]," McDermott said. "They play [on Monday], obviously, so we'll take a look at that, but more so, we need to focus on how we can grow as a football team and move ourselves forward and take some things from yesterday and try and build on those as well."
