The NFL hasn’t chased me away just yet.
Because running backs still matter.
If newly enshrined Hall of Famer Don Coryell were alive, he’d enjoy the recent shows of hybrid playmaking from one running back in particular. So would Bill Walsh, the former San Diego Chargers coordinator whose love of “extended handoff” es fueled his three San Francisco 49ers clubs that won the Super Bowl.
It’s fun to see this running back give Josh Allen some overdue assistance.
What am I going on about here, while flashing back to Terry Metcalf and Lydell Mitchell, James Brooks and the great Roger Craig?
James Cook’s surge as a dual-threat that has rescued the Buffalo Bills. It’s that simple.
Sunday, Cook hit the Dallas Cowboys for 179 rushing yards and a touchdown, and caught two es for 42 yards and a touchdown, leading to Buffalo’s much-needed victory.
Cook looked more fluid and faster than anyone else on the Bills (8-6) or the Cowboys (10-4).
Instead of short-changing Allen, their quarterback and an annual MVP candidate, the Bills have rallied.
They seemed in big trouble last month when their mistake-filled 24-22 loss at home, to Denver, left them at 5-5 going into a toughening schedule.
The turnaround began when head coach Sean McDermott fired coordinator Ken Dorsey and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Joe Brady.
Cook got more chances in the next four games, his average number of touches rising from 14.4 to 21.
The results: four touchdowns and more than 500 yards from scrimmage, 13.2 yards gained on average across 16 receptions and 5.2 rushing yards gained on average across 68 carries.
The Bills won three of four games, losing only when the NFC-leading Eagles outscored them in Philadelphia, 37-34.
Cook’s quickness, agility and receiver-level hands led the Bills to draft him out of Georgia.
The 5-foot-11, 192-pound 24-year-old was having a solid second season before McDermott changed playcallers.
Under Brady, the Cook-enhanced attack has become more diversified. Bills blockers appear rejuvenated, as does receiver Stefon Diggs.
The Bills (8-6) are favored by two touchdowns against the Chargers (5-9) this Saturday in Inglewood. They’ll finish against the Patriots (3-11) and Dolphins (10-4).
Over in the NFC, it’s fun to see Christian McCaffrey have one of the all-time seasons of diverse playmaking by a running back.
McCaffrey is winning as a split end downfield against cornerbacks, as a full-speed north-south rusher and in several other facets between those extremes.
The 49ers’ fingers are crossed that McCaffrey, honed by an NFL-best total of touches, can retain peak form into and through the Super Bowl tournament.
Sounding off
You’ll get no quarrel from me if your top MVP candidate is any of three QBs. They are, in alphabetical order: Allen, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.
Who throws a more catchable than Brock Purdy?
Answer: no one.
Thinking back to Tom Telesco’s tenure that began with the final four San Diego Chargers teams. Turned out, the club’s only homefield win in 10 tries versus Andy Reid’s Chiefs was a gift wrapped in blue and gold. One, Reid held out so many starters his team was a 16-point underdog by kickoff in Mission Valley. Two, the NFL confessed its zebras erred by not flagging those 2013 Chargers for a blatant misalignment on Ryan Succop’s game-winning try. The kick was wide right from 41 yards.
Eric Weddle said the Chargers never would win big under Telesco and John Spanos.
Was he wrong?
• Trevor Lawrence‘s third-year growing pains deepened Sunday night against an advanced Ravens defense that Matthew Stafford and a surprising Rams ground game nevertheless kept off balance a week earlier. Lawrence is forcing the issue, not thinking as clearly as he did late last season.
• Brandon Staley going for it as much as he did as a rookie head coach didn’t bother me more than once or twice. The analytics he applied have pretty much borne out throughout the NFL in subsequent years.
More than anything else, not living up to his reputation as a defensive expert caught up with Staley. His defenses were 29th, 21st and 27th in fewest points allowed. They were 26th, 21st and 28th in DVOA, an advanced statistic.
• Shallow rosters were a problem for the Telesco-Spanos front office. They showed up in poor special teams several years. Some of those units were historically bad.
“I’m the constant,” Telesco told me, on the record, four years ago, when asked about numerous bottom-five special teams units.
• It was no coincidence that the best of the 11 clubs under Telesco and Spanos was also the one with both the best offensive line (led by LT Russell Okung and C Mike Pouncey) and best defensive line (led by rushers Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa; and veteran NT Brandon Mebane). That team went 12-4 under Anthony Lynn. It won at Arrowhead Stadium, Philip Rivers leading a late TD drive and telling Mahomes afterward he’d see him again in the playoffs. Broncos star Von Miller goading Rivers into a mental mistake was a big play in that team not winning the West.
• Understanding how to earn and retain the trust of powerful people was a strength of Telesco, who survived a massive purge with the Colts and made a smart move, practically speaking, by aligning with an ascendant exec whose family happened to own the team. Similarly able to build trust, A.J. Preller ed the Padres as a rookie GM a year and half after John Spanos and Dean Spanos brought Telesco to San Diego. Preller’s contract runs through at least 2026. Telesco and Preller’s respective win rates: .477 and .470. Their total of West titles: zero. It’s a wild-card world.
