
Bills crush Cowboys, James Cook leads the way
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D
This team just physically put the Dallas Cowboys away from the start, from the first drive on. This is the Buffalo plus podcast brought.
C
To you by Connors and Farris.
B
All right, welcome Back to the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel presented by Connors and Ferris by Catalana Dan Fates. I am Jenna Cottrell. Please be sure to like, comment, comment and subscribe to the podcast channel because we are talking Bills dominant win over the Cowboys 31 to 10. James Cook with a career afternoon. He was tearing it up on the ground as well as the Bills defense. Dak Prescott looked uncomfortable all day long. All right, let's talk about it. What did you see in this game?
D
I saw a team I've rarely seen from the Buffalo Bills. They were a physical, dominant team, impose their will both sides of the ball. We have seen them dominate teams and it's usually Josh is just magical. They make a few plays, couple interceptions, they do whatever, get a few sacks. This team just physically put the Dallas Cowboys away from the start, from the first drive on. They were the better team, the more physical team, the dominant team all day.
C
Bully ball. That's what this was. This was the team that Sean McDermott has dreamed of since he became actually since he was a little boy up late at night watching Monday Night Football going, if I get to coach a football team one day in the NFL, they're going to be a ground and pound team with a quarter of a billion dollar quarterback and we're just going to hand the ball off a bunch.
D
Janet, I just want. Because we're going to put this sound bite in. This was Sean McDermott. I asked him a question. I could see a little smile in.
C
The corner of his face.
B
Oh, he was so happy.
D
He asked. I asked him about playing, playing the way they played today. Well, here's Sean.
E
Definitely you need to be able to do this. You need to be able to play that way down the stretch because of weather or they're taking away your fastball. And I just Believe in that. I think just philosophically, holistically, you've got to be able to show that you can do that, be a two dimensional offense, or in this case, a one dimensional offense via the run. And it just helps the whole football team. Right. It keeps their explosive offense on the sideline with their explosive players. And it's just a mindset, too, and you've got to be able to do that.
B
All right, Dan, I have a. Were you gritting your teeth on the sidelines, people?
C
A little bit. It was kind of like, you like chocolate ice cream and you. All they had was vanilla and you're like, that's pretty good. This vanilla ice cream can also be good. Like, it's good vanilla ice cream. It was to see them. You saw the quit in the Cowboys. Yeah. You saw it. That was the most fascinating thing to me. This was a team that was very confident, won five in a row. This offense, this defense gets after, you know, teams. All these things I know that I love. I've been against running the football, right? And I've always said that, like, it's death by a thousand paper cuts. It's like what Tom Brady did. But I've heard, like, Chris Long and other guys talk about when you're a defense and you're getting picked apart through the air, you almost go to the sidelines, they say, and they say, hey, if we. If we clog this lane, like, like, we'll get them back. Like, look, when it's this type of body blow and just running the ball down their throat and there's nothing you do, it's demoralizing the fact that you could pretty much say, we're running it here, there's nothing you can do about it.
B
Yeah.
C
That was the type of game the Bills played. I have never seen the Bills do that in my seven years of covering this team. But this was the type of game, like Sean McDermott said, like you guys have mentioned, they need to do in this kind of elements.
B
I think it was really cool to see James Cook and that process, and we talked about it in the pregame podcast of the maturation process of him. And obviously today, a career afternoon for him. I think what we saw was just the vision, the patience. He had a couple nice, really nice catches, dropped the touchdown, but had the two other touchdowns. I think when you see him kind of come together, you tweeted out like, james Cook is a star.
D
He's a star. This was Thurman Thomas stuff. Wow. And I'm telling you now, look, Thurman did it over and over and over again. He has a gold jacket. Okay. I'm talking about the way he played. LeSean McCoy would do that. The. The great hot moves and get around. He's a phenomenal runner, and he could catch the ball. He's just a great athlete. But this is in a big game against the Dallas Cowboys, like, in this time. That's why it reminded me more of Thurman than anybody. Again, it's a game, but James Cook has been building on this. But today, Dan, when I watched him, I've never seen that. We've seen little flashes. He did it all day right from the beginning.
C
What did Micah Hyde say?
B
Confidence is a hell of a drug.
C
And I know he says he's always been confident. There's being confident and believing that you can do it, and then there's going out and doing it, and that's a whole nother level. You can always say, I've always believed in myself. Until you actually go out there and put up 227 total yards, you don't really think you can do it. That was a whole nother level of James Cook, and again, the team can. He's that good that the team can rely on him to win games.
B
Yeah, I think. And when you'd ask Sean McDermott about playing that type of style, I think what Sean McDermott talked about, too, was having the duality of being able to both pass the ball and also being able to run it, which I know you don't love. The idea of that balance wasn't bad. But I think in this moment, you put that on tape, teams are going to have to prepare for that, because the threat of that and that even just having that sets the example of. Okay, we have to take this seriously.
D
Look, when you're the Chargers or the Patriots or the Dolphins, at the end of the year, you're looking at James Cook, like, at the top here. Like, as Josh is at the moment, in this part of the year, he's their number one weapon. He's right now.
C
Wait, Josh Allen is.
D
Well, Josh Allen. I'm talking about for Josh Allen to use.
C
Yes.
D
James Cook is their number one weapon right now, ahead of Stefon Diggs, though he did make.
B
That is an incredible catch. Insane, absurd throw.
C
Absurd catch.
D
And then I saw a tweet. Jana Cottrell, you know, Steph maybe is online trying to get his brother to come to Buffalo. Why not, right? If he wants to play for the team that beat the Cowboys 31 to 10. But, no, I think James Cook is becoming that guy. And it's one thing to say, well, it's Diggs and Kincaid and all. No, no, no. When you can get this out of the back and know you can rely on it. Now, look, they're not going to run the ball this much all the time. They had the lead and it helped that the defense was so good today.
B
Yes.
D
That they were able to maintain it, but, man, it's just another gear that they haven't always had.
B
If you were to tell me that the Bills won with Josh Allen having 94 passing yards, Khalil, Shakir, Dalton, Kincaid, Dawson, Knox, Gabe Davis, all not having catches, I feel like. Okay. But also a piece of this game too was the O line and how well they played.
C
Two things. One, Josh Allen said he was the kid in the group project that didn't do as much and still got the angle.
B
Were you ever that in 100%. I knew you would be that.
D
I'm going to also say Josh Allen has been that guy before.
C
We have criticized this. We were driving up here saying, you know, this roster for everybody that talks about super bowl caliber roster. Like we have, all three of us on this channel have been like. Like there's. There's some things I think that Brandon Beane has struggled with. The one thing Brandon Bean has nailed this offseason was this offensive line. He nailed this offensive line and giving. We were cynical, critical, joked around about, you know, Spencer Brown. Oh, boy, his back really was bothering last year. He looks great.
B
Yeah.
C
This offensive line, Deion Dawkins, Mitch Morris, Connor McGovern and Cyrus of Torrence.
D
Like, yeah, they.
C
They look phenomenal. And they were the. The catalyst of just body blows. Body blows. Oh, Cyrus Torrents.
B
As soon as you said it, I was like, I was like, wait, I don't remix.
C
I just made Cyrus Iris.
D
That's a cool name, though. Cyrus. So Torrence is here.
B
Oh. Literally in my head I was like, wait.
C
But you know what?
D
I love confidence. That he.
B
Confidence is a hell of a drop.
D
James Cook running through the line.
B
Just keep going. I don't even. Your point was good.
D
It was.
C
This is the one position group. I think Bean has absolutely hit a.
D
Home run and it looks like he's hit on the running back, too. After multiple tries.
B
Well and even.
C
Yeah, I mean, yes. But like, that doesn't take away all the strikeouts.
D
I didn't say it did. But it's nice that eventually he looks good.
C
He's a volume shooter. He's taking a lot of three.
B
Well, even after the Game Mitch Morris talked about sometimes it's not nice. Instead of for all the times for pass protection, having to take a step back, being able to take that step forward and kind of dictate what you want to do.
D
They love the run game.
B
They do.
D
They love it.
B
I think they love the physicality.
D
They do. Look at him. He's hurt.
B
He is hurt.
D
Are they a running team now?
B
No.
D
Is. Is. Wait a minute. Hold on. Is Cam gonna call Josh a game manager?
C
I thought about that.
D
Is he a game manager also?
C
Good thing. I'll make my joke. Good thing Sean McDermott didn't fire himself a few weeks ago.
D
Yeah.
C
And that Ken Dorsey was the scapegoat. I just renewed my subscription to Disney, too.
B
I saw a tweet that said Ken Dorsey should be on trial.
D
Yeah. It's a combination of things. You know, this is why we told everybody Sean McDermott had not lost the room. Some of the stuff out there about him was nonsense. His team played for him, and he was asked about if. Like, if he's found his groove defensively. Oh, he's fine.
B
He's in his bag now.
D
He really is. And that was without A.J. epanessa, Micah Hyde. And you already know about the guys that aren't there.
B
Yeah.
C
It was interesting to see Matt Milano on the sidelines today. To see him walking around with the guys, I think that's also a boost. I know he's not going to play this year and things like that. I think just having him around Daquan Jones is getting closer.
D
Ever trust teams when they say that?
B
Yeah.
D
Depends on how they are. You know, where they are. But the defense, I thought they were so physical in this one.
B
But tell. Before we go to the defense, tell them what Dion Dawkins said about after the game. Who was happy.
D
Dad's happy.
C
Amazing.
D
Because I said to him, I go, you've been around a lot of wins with Sean and. And. But this is the kind of game he loves, right? He goes, oh, he loves it. Dad's happy. It was so good in his cowboy hat. Yeah.
C
Teams feeling phenomenal.
D
Yeah, they were.
C
And the other thing I want to take away before we get to the defense, as the rain picked up in the fourth quarter, I'm kind of just shooting the bench. This wasn't a win where they were pumping up the crowd. This wasn't a win where they're saying to a lot of the Cowboys fans, I have some great sad Cowboy fan shots and ponchos, and it's just great. But this wasn't Like a. To them, it didn't feel like a statement win to them. I was looking over at somebody else and they go, they're like, yeah, this is what we're supposed to do. Like, all season long, they've been like, hey, we're going to put it together. Like, just, hey, you know, like, we're just. We're shooting ourselves in the foot. We got to execute better. Like, this was that kind of win where it was like, hey, we expect to do this. We expected that we could play a physical style of game and beat up the Cowboys, one of the best teams, hottest teams, the NFL in our house.
D
Yeah, I do think, and we talked about it, I think they caught the Cowboys at a good time, which was good, but they didn't just beat them, they dominated them. So I think that contributed. It contributed to it a little bit. The Cowboys coming off a huge win, they've been playing great. That's a playoff team. They actually clinched a playoff spot today with a couple of other things that happened. But looked, they look dominant. And I said, they're going to still try to fight to make the playoffs, but if this defense plays like this and the offense can get contributions from other guys, they're going to keep winning. I think that's what they're going to do.
B
And Oliver talked post game about getting their swagger back, playing with the Juice, and that's what you need to have happen to get into the playoffs. It's those types of things. Things that when you see that on the field, you believe in that, the confidence piece and then you continue that. And I believe it. He saw, he talked about too, like you. Now we're at the point in the season where you look to the guy next to you and you say, I know what you can do, you know what I can do, let's just go out and do it. And I think that's. I mean, you saw the defensive line, how much pressure they were able to get. Like Dak Prescott, I felt like was just all day, just like, Zach Martin left early. Yes, he did.
C
And I think after that, I think that they totally got to him. And especially for a defensive line, it's like that. That kid in the high school video clip. Like, I think I got my swagger back. Like, again, this is a defense that just gives Sean McDermott a ton of credit for all those guys being out. The hottest offense coming in here. This is the second time that he has slowed down a really hot offense coming into Orchard Park. He did it against Miami. They had scored 70 points. The Cowboys have been averaging 40 points over their last five or six games. This was just a complete domination from start to finish.
D
And it's hard to pick like eight play because they made a lot of plays. But there was a play early in the third quarter where the Cowboys had a third and one and they decided to throw. And the Bills came with pressure and you're taking a bit of a chance there, but it worked and they got to Dak and I thought, you know, it's 21 3. Dallas can just, if they can move down the field, you get points. It's a game. Took them right out of it. And then the Bills went on an eight, eight minute drive. You only kicked the field goal, but the eight minutes was the huge part of it.
B
Dak took some big hits today, Dag. I did Tweet that Lean McCoy said MVP. MVP.
D
So for those of you who don't.
C
Know, first of all, Dak is ass. Right. Can I say on tv because he is ass. Classic.
D
Dak is a great player. We're having a little fun. He is in the MVP consideration. He's had a great year. He him putting this one on the MVP reel. And funny about it is, it's almost like their offense was almost non existent. They could barely stay on the field. And then the Bills just controlled time of possession and everything. So while the defense was great, the offense helped the defense be great because they had the football most of the time.
B
Yeah. And also too, I felt like the Cowboys had a lot of penalties. The Bills were really good about it. There was only the one accepted one on Tyrell Dotson, but for the most.
C
Part, I feel like 16 yards, well worth it.
D
Yeah, it was a shot.
B
Yeah, it was a shot.
D
By the way, the referee in the game was undefeated, doing California. I hate that stat. I think it's a dumb stat. It's so arbitrary.
C
What's that go off, King?
D
Well, it's an arbitrary stat. These guys do games like you don't even know. Maybe they win a game. The Dallas Cowboys win a lot of football games. That ref has done like five of their games over five.
C
It's like with the Chiefs and Eagles, it's like. Yeah, the last two years they're undefeated. Yeah, because they've won 90% of their games.
D
I mean, so the game was today. I thought there was a lot of calls. Yeah, they called a lot of those. Like if it was the Josh, Josh.
B
He'S just, he's good all pro actor.
D
But Dak, you know, those are, those are plays And Dak slid and then he got the other one. They called those. They called the one. Yeah. Who got hit. What wide receiver for the Bills got hit.
C
Shakir.
D
Shakir. But I thought that was a penalty. And they called it, so. So they called a lot of those. But, I mean, look, refs didn't matter. Nothing mattered. The better physical team won the game.
B
All right, let's talk about where they are right now after the day. The Browns picked up a win. The Texans picked up a win. Obviously, the Dolphins.
D
Yeah. The Bengals picked up a win.
B
Yeah, the Dolphins won. So they are ninth in terms of the standings right now. But like you talked about, if they continue to take care of business like they have been doing, that's a very positive thing.
C
Go out to LA. You're 13 and a half point favorites against Easton Stick.
D
And it's just not a real name.
C
Gif Smith, I believe, is the intervention for the Bills. Okay. Just go there, get the win. Don't. Don't worry about covering. This is a team right now. Again. I know it's dumb when it's like, well, we. We have everything we want in front of us and we control her in Desi. You really do win these last few games. You know what Miami has? They talked about the boost that they got from the Titans beating Miami on Monday night. Sean actually admitted that last week. They're gonna have to go play Dallas, the Ravens and the Bills to end.
D
Yeah.
C
Take care of your business. You're gonna be fine.
D
They need Dallas or they need Miami to lose one game over the next two to have a shot to win the division if the Bills continue to win. But if not, they win these games, they could be going to Miami for the division, and if not, they could be going there for the playoffs. And I already said to you, the committee needs to put the Bills in the playoffs if they're gonna play like this.
C
I agree.
D
Get together, vote. Take one of the teams that has a quarterback hurt, like Florida State. I guess it would be the Bengals. Unfortunately, that's the way committees work. Yep. So you take them out, you put Josh Allen.
B
Something to note, though. The Cowboys do play the Dolphins next. And I think that, by the way, Dallas was embarrassed tonight. Maybe gives them a little bit of an. I don't want to say an edge, but like, teams want to bounce back. They got dominated here.
C
Miami also has to beat a team with a winning record.
B
It's true, too.
D
Wow. I just hate seeing the Cowboys lose.
C
Dak is ass.
D
So dis. Disappointing.
B
I know you were grinning from ear to ear. Do you see that? Yes. I'm scared.
C
It's a Bills win and an Eagle's win.
D
Well, it is kind of. Hey, the Eagles got their own problems. Yeah, they got their own problems.
B
Matt. Patricia.
D
Well, he's already won him a Super Bowl. Of course he was coaching for the Patriots at the time, but he won him a Super bowl, so.
B
Oh, okay. Anyhow, anything else?
C
Nope.
D
No, I don't think so.
B
Like comment subscribe yeah, also the buffalo plus store, buffaloplus store.com. we put some new stuff on there. Also have the let James Cook shirt that gotta get Dan Fates designed himself timely fashion. It's a really funny shirt.
C
You know, last minute holiday shoppings for those loved ones in those mafia.
B
Yeah, we'll pay for it. No, but shipping is free.
D
That's what I meant.
B
So there's that.
D
Yeah.
B
Okay. So thank you so much. Please be sure to like Comment subscribe subscribe your thoughts on this game. For Mike Catalana and Dan Feet, I am Jenna Koch. We will catch you next time here on Buffalo plus, presented by Connors and Ferris.
C
Colin Coward's gonna be upset about my hat.
B
Backwards hat kind of guy.
Episode Title: Bills Let JAMES COOK: 10 TAKEAWAYS from Buffalo Bills DOMINATE win over Cowboys
Date: December 18, 2023
Hosts: Mike Catalana, Jenna Cottrell, Dan Fetes
Main Theme:
A dominant, physically imposing Buffalo Bills performance against the Dallas Cowboys, with a career day for James Cook and a complete, swagger-filled showing on both sides of the ball. The team dissects the identity shift, James Cook’s breakout, defensive strategy, O-line resurgence, and playoff projections.
The Buffalo Plus team breaks down the Buffalo Bills’ decisive 31-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, focusing on ten critical takeaways. The discussion highlights how the Bills deviated from their typical air-raid offense and won via a run-heavy, ground-and-pound game led by James Cook. The hosts reflect on what this new physical identity means for the team’s playoff aspirations, with plenty of insider takes and locker room anecdotes.
On Physical Domination:
Sean McDermott on Running the Ball:
On James Cook’s Confidence:
Jenna on Game Plan:
Mike on Cook’s Stardom:
Jenna Paraphrasing Josh Allen on Doing Little in a Win:
Postgame Mood:
On Playoff Committee:
Running Joke:
The hosts keep the tone energetic, candid, and informally analytical, blending locker room insights, humor, and technical football knowledge. The banter and inside jokes (such as “Dak is ass” and Josh Allen’s “group project” quip) balance sharp football analysis with relatable conversational style.
Useful For:
Missed It? Key Takeaway:
The Bills’ emphatic win over Dallas was the result of a physical, run-dominant approach spearheaded by the offensive line and James Cook, with a resurgent defense stifling one of the league’s hottest offenses—positioning the Bills as a dangerous, evolving contender down the season’s crucial stretch.