Trending Up/Down: Key Takeaways from the Bills’ Week 18 Win

James Cook - Buffalo Bills RB

Trending Up/Down: Key Takeaways from the Bills’ Week 18 Win | The Wandering Buffalo

Trending Up ⬆️

James Cook

Cook finished with 10 carries for 28 yards and a touchdown. That alone wouldn’t land him in the trending up category, but he achieved a couple of notable milestones and, most importantly, came out of the game healthy. Cook eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the second season in a row, and with his 16th rushing touchdown of the season, tied O.J. Simpson for the franchise single-season rushing record. Going into the playoffs, Cook will be an integral part of the Bills’ offense and may use the fact that he was left off the Pro Bowl team as extra motivation.

Young Bills Defenders

Namely, Joe Andreesen and Javon Solomon. Andreesen, or “Buffalo Joe” as we like to call him, led the team with 10 tackles, while edge rusher Javon Solomon came in second with 7 tackles, including a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. This is the second week in a row Buffalo Joe has led the team in tackles. Solomon also had a very nice showing, with his teammates raving about his abilities in practice.

Curtis Samuel

Samuel finished with 7 catches for 52 yards on 8 targets. An efficient game, but one that came against one of the worst teams in the league in a game that didn’t mean anything to the Bills. Unimpressively, it was his most productive game of the year, but he was signed to have a role on this team. Going into the playoffs, he needed a showing like this — with Mitch Trubisky as his quarterback — to give the team and fans some confidence moving forward.

Trending Down ⬇️

No One

The Buffalo Bills are the AFC East champions for the 5th straight season, finishing 13-4, securing the #2 seed in the AFC, and remaining generally healthy heading into the playoffs. In a season that was considered a “reset,” the Bills head into the postseason with the most optimism they’ve had in recent years. The icing on the cake? The Patriots fumbled the #1 overall pick by beating Buffalo in a meaningless game.

We get the Denver Broncos on Sunday at 1 PM on CBS.

GO BILLS!


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Week 18 Takeaways: Bills Stay Healthy & Milestones Are Met

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Josh Allen and James Cook Approach Franchise Records in Bills’ Week 17 Blowout