The Buffalo Bills crushed the Dallas Cowboys 31-3 in Week 15 of the NFL, keeping their playoff hopes alive. The Cowboys, however, are already qualified for the postseason thanks to the competition.
Cowboys @ Bills: At a glance
- The Buffalo Bills kept their playoff hopes alive thanks to a comfortable home win over the Cowboys. In the playoff picture they are still level with the last wild card spots in the AFC.
- Josh Allen extended his own NFL single-season record, while James Cook, who scored two touchdowns, achieved a special statistical milestone.
- Meanwhile, the Cowboys continued an infamous negative streak.
Cowboys @ Bills: The game report
In pouring rain in western New York, the home team set the tone with their run game from the start and were unstoppable in the first drive. In the end, after almost seven minutes, a two-yard touchdown run by Latavius Murray gave the team an early lead. In the second quarter, the Bills followed up with two more touchdowns from James Cook on an 18-yard pass from Josh Allen and Allen himself from the 1. Until then, the guests had only managed one field goal.
However, the Cowboys helped a lot in all three touchdown drives and incurred three severe penalties at the wrong time: the first drive was extended by a roughing the passer penalty by DeMarcus Lawrence, the second by Sam Williams, who was a roughing the passer Kicker against punter Sam Martin contributed and before the third TD it was Jayron Kearse who attacked wide receiver Khalil Shakir too hard on an incompletion.
And even before Brandon Aubrey’s 32-yard field goal, the Cowboys were lucky that a bad pass from Dak Prescott didn’t turn into an interception by defensive lineman Jordan Phillips. Phillips dropped the ball.
After the break, Dallas continued to do nothing, while Buffalo put the lid on things with Cook’s 24-yard touchdown run.
After their win over the Eagles last week, the Cowboys are already in danger of losing the lead in the NFC East again, but they have already secured a playoff spot thanks to the other results of the week. The Bills, in turn, remain in contention for the AFC wild card spots.
Dallas Cowboys (10-4) @ Buffalo Bills (8-6)
Result: 10:31 (0:7, 7:14, 0:3, 7:6) BOXSCORE
Cowboys @ Bills: Key stats
- The Cowboys trailed by at least 14 points for the second time in this game. In total, they have now lost their last 14 games in a row in which they were so far behind. Their last win after a 14-point deficit came in Week 5 of 2020 against the Giants.
- It was Allen’s tenth game this season with at least one rushing and one passing touchdown. That’s the most in NFL history in one season.
- Cook broke 100 rushing yards in the first half. The Cowboys had not allowed a single 100-yard rusher this season. Cook is also the first player with at least 100 rushing yards before the break against Dallas since Bryce Brown in 2012 for the Eagles. Cook totaled 221 scrimmage yards. The last player with more than 200 scrimmage yards against the Cowboys was Todd Gurley in 2017 with 215 scrimmage yards.
The star of the game: James Cook (running back, Bills)
Cook excelled with 221 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns. But here it represents the Bills’ dominant run game, which defied the conditions on the ground. They averaged 5.4 yards per carry and Dallas had no answer.
The flop of the game: Offensive Line (Cowboys)
The Cowboys had 106 net passing yards and Dak Prescott, who was under constant fire, collected three sacks and was lucky to throw no more than one interception. The great strength of this team over the last few weeks has effectively been pulled out.
The highlight of the game
A one-handed catch in the pouring rain is remarkable. And in this case he set up a touchdown.