Thurman Thomas: James Cook Has Been “Balling!”

Thurman Thomas: James Cook Has Been “Balling!”

All right, here we are. Hour number two on a Thursday. Chris Brown, Steve Tasker, and the Hall of Famer. Thurman Thomas joining us in studio as he does every week here on One Bills Live. And uh I wanted to start right off the bat, Thurm. Um James Cook is slowly but surely closing in on Jonathan Taylor. About a month ago, he was about 130 yards behind him. He’s cut the rushing lead to about 18 yards. He’s 18 yards back now. >> Now, here’s my only concern. >> What? My only concern is with Daniel Jones hurt, >> they’re gonna be giving Taylor the ball a ton. >> So, he’s gonna get more carries than James and might be able to hold him off. >> Yeah. But Daniel Jones out there, Philip Rivers is there. They’re going to have a eight, nine man front. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Jonathan Taylor, it’s going to be the the toughest stretch of Jonathan Taylor’s career these last couple of games. >> It is interesting that their carries are only one one off. I mean, Taylor with 272, James with 271. >> And that and that has to be really too with >> Jonathan Taylor got has way more snaps than James Brooke. James Cook, >> I would think that, right? Like >> he’s out there major he’s out there the majority of the time. Jonathan Taylor. >> Yes. Yes, that’s true. He does play on third down for them. I know that. >> Yeah. Hey, man. Look, James Cook for MVP, baby. >> What about off What about offensive player of the year? >> I I’ll take it. Yeah. >> Yeah, I’ll take it. Yeah, >> cuz I think there’s a good chance it goes to a running back again this year. Last year was Saquon. >> Yeah, >> I think there’s a good chance it goes to a running back again this year. Taylor’s probably the front runner right now. McCaffrey doesn’t have the rushing yards, but he’s got a boatload of receiving yards out in San Fran. >> Yeah, he was he should probably get comeback player of the year. >> McCaffrey. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I’ll sign up for that. Yeah, I’ll sign up for that. Anyway, man, look, Cook’s got to be in a discussion. I don’t care what nobody say. I’m on Cook’s side. I mean, this guy has, you know, they got off easy with paying him $12 million. >> What’ you make of that? >> The guy the guy’s been balling, man. And he this offensive line and him, they make they make this football team go. >> Yeah, >> they really do. >> I I still don’t think the offensive line has gotten its due credit this season and the job that Aaron Chromemer’s done with them. Um I know they got a little bit more credit when you know they executed the game plan they did in Pittsburgh with two backup tackles in the lineup. >> Yeah. >> But I mean they manhandled that Patriots Dline which was not the case back in week five. I mean they came and brought it. >> Yeah. But the guy they got their guys out. They’re the big defensive. You take one guy out and that’s it. >> That’s it. >> It don’t hurt >> that. It doesn’t hurt you. I mean that their their defense since Milton Williams went out, their defense fell off a cliff. >> Well, they’re giving up a little over a yard more per rush. >> It’s he’s having the same He had the same effect on them that Ted Washington did on the teams he played in. You take that guy off the field and all of a sudden you can run a little bit. >> Oh, no. >> That >> he’s no Ted Washington, but he’s good. And that but that’s the kind of difference that one guy can make inside. All of a sudden, everything’s got to bounce. You can’t go up inside the guards or tackles. And that’s that’s a big deal. >> Yeah, it’s a big deal. So, I’m >> Yeah, yeah, I Bills I I know this. The Bills are going to be able to run it on any team they got going down there. I including Philly because they’re versatile enough to do it. >> Um it’s not going to look the same against Philly as it did against say Pittsburgh or anybody else. >> But yeah, teams are going to have to bear up on it. That’s why they’re going to that’s why the Bills score so much. I mean, that’s we’ve been talking about it all day, Thurm. >> The Bills score touchdowns, man. They get They get in the end zone, man. They go. >> They’re a problem. So, it’s that’s got to be part of the recipe. >> Yeah. But I I I think really though, >> I mean, coming into this football game right here, I mean, man, let’s not do this again and drop to their level of play. >> You know, they’re what, three and 12 team >> and we can’t be getting off to a slow start against a team like that. I mean, and they probably won’t score either, but still, you have to come out. You got to come out and and and start performing better. Yeah. And I think everybody in the first half at least Yeah. Give me >> give me something a drive or two and then maybe a couple of >> one, two, three punts or whatever. Don’t give me this. I mean, you don’t I think the only the thing I worry about I do and this is the same going into the Patriots game and the Cleveland game is if the offense comes out and and turns like they’ve done it turn it over on the first series, right? uh something bad happens um or stumble out or get a bad penalty, whatever, stop themselves, this offense is built right now, if they don’t get a bad offsides penalty or a holding penalty, they’re hard to get off the field. >> Yeah. >> And even in those even this this last Patriots game where they were one, two, three and out, one, two, three and out, >> they do it to themselves early. And that’s to me that’s on the players. Um you it’s not like coaching, game plan, play selection, none of that. It’s on the players. You got to show up sharper than they’ve been able to. >> Yeah, I I definitely agree with that. Um you know, when when has we when have we taken the opening drive and took it down the field and scored? >> It’s been a minute. It’s been probably got to go back to mid-season. >> Mid-season last year. There was a stretch there in the middle of the season where they were leading the league in points scored on first possessions, >> right? >> And then all of a sudden the slow first half cropped up around week eight or nine. >> Yeah, >> it hasn’t gotten >> Yeah, they were they were really good at it early in this season. They did it consistently through, you know, that 4-0 start even start >> even into the two and even into the part where they were going win loss win loss. Then it started to it started to get him and >> and look, it doesn’t have to be a touchdown in the field goal every time. Just move the possession of the ball down the field, you know, get that advantage to where okay, >> let’s pin them back at the 10 yard line instead of, you know, punting and they get it at the 30 or the 40. What what have you uh thought, Thurm, about how the passing game has been diversified in recent weeks, utilizing the tight ends and the backs a ton. Last week, for example, just as the most recent example, Josh has 19 completions in the game. >> Yeah. >> 13 of them go to backs and tight ends, and they have three receiving touchdowns among all of them. like just explain what you think that does to an opposing defense when they see a passing game that diversifies in that way because the production just hasn’t been there from the receivers. So, Joe Brady has pivoted. Yeah. >> And here we are. >> Yeah. I think it’s >> it frustrates the defense >> because you’re wanting to prepare for these wide receivers >> downfield or whatever, but you’re pay now you got to prepare for the tight ends and the back. So, it’s like a whole new system that you’re going at. Like, who do we choose to take away from this system? Are we double teaming the wide outs? Are we doubling teaming the tight ends or the back? So, it it creates a lot of problem and and when you look at >> throughout the season, I mean, it’s kind of been that way. >> It hasn’t been any particular like the wide receivers’s got 25 or 30 targets. It hasn’t been like that. is the only guy that’s really produced there on a relatively consistent basis at the receiver position. >> I’ll I’ll ask both of you this. I because I’ I’ve been thinking about it. The Bills are doing it because to us it’s like it kind of evolved to that because those are guys that have been productive. Knox Concaid Cook and Khalil Shakir the inside close, you know, the slot guy. Could there be something to the fact because we know this was this was true for u for the Bengals, but is there something to the fact that all these teams around the league go out and get that CB1 and the CB2 and they’re they’re out on the edges and they put all their you know they put some assets >> talent and they pick talent and they split they spend the money on the outside, >> right? >> So now you’re hitting them from the you know what I’m saying? You’re saying the guys, these are the guys that, you know, the secondary athletes, >> you know, is the teams, the rosters are built defensively to guard the edges cuz you’re every year, every week, these guys are playing, you know, CD Lamb and >> Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and Justin Jefferson and Puka Nakua and all these big time wide out receivers. All of a sudden, teams are building their defenses that way. A little bit like it was where everybody was built to run and cover defensively. Now teams, you know, Derrick Henry and now James Cook and our offensive line teams are starting to bully him a little bit because they’re light up front because they’re built to cover. Is there any >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. I I know exactly what I mean. It’s like, you know, 10 15 years ago, you need a pass rushers, right? >> Right. >> You need a pass rushers and now you got all these receivers or whatever and and basic we don’t have one, >> right? >> We we have the major I mean at the beginning of the New England game, I mean, we were lining up already in two tight ends, right? I mean, that’s how the game started off and >> they ain’t even gonna mess me with it >> and they not they weren’t going to even mess with it. It’s going to work because they have that running game and I think the this offensive line is really >> um you know I think their best job probably was against New England as far as pass blocking. I I mean the one that he threw to >> Knox was I mean the whole front four was on the left side of the field. >> Nobody was even around Josh. So, I think with them doing all and you talk about going back to that phrase, everybody eat, everybody’s eating right now. Everybody. And it could be the wide receivers group this coming up week. You never know, right? >> What um do you think of Joe Brady’s ability to kind of play off some of their tendencies? Like the success of the Bills run game is something that I think Joe Brady is using as a tendency breaker to keep defenses off balance. Like you look at that >> couple of plays in the red zone last week where they’re using that play action and everybody’s expecting Cook to run it in from five yards out and all of a sudden Josh is rolling out and he’s throwing it out to Knox as he makes a run across the goal line to the pylon. How has Joe Are you happy with how Joe Brady has kind of used some of Buffalo’s own tendencies against the opposing defense? >> I’m very happy with it. I mean, I haven’t really seen anything about Joe Brady in the last couple of weeks, right? Yeah. I mean, because he is I think he’s done an out much to complain about. >> There hasn’t been much to complain about and I think he’s done an outstanding job of really just, you know, what with with what he has, he’s using it best of his ability. He’s looking at the defense and seeing who can I take advantage of whether it’s a defensive lineman that always crashes down or is it a linebacker that flows to the flat very well. I mean just doing different things with these tight ends and I mean you’re up there and and some of these passing plays I mean you see the wide receivers right next to the tight end like like like it’s almost going to be like it’s going to be a a run play and they’re going to have to block and limitation. the wide receivers’s been done an excellent job of running uh blocking downfield for a lot of these runs that Jame Cook and the rest of the running backs have been getting. So, you know, I’m happy with it. I think everybody’s happy with it. I mean, we continue to score 30 35 points a game, >> we’re going to be hard to beat. And just given given that like our defense, let score let them score 10 points after they scored 21. >> We’re we’re we’re still just we’re third in the league in scoring per game behind LA and Detroit. Um, but that going five out of five in the red zone last week against New England, you know, that was >> that was big. >> Um, and I think you know this Cleveland defense, >> it’s Miles Garrett is the centerpiece. No question about it, but it’s not like they’re beereft of talent around him. I mean, it’s not just him and a bunch of guys. They’ve got some guys out there, too. So, I >> um >> it’ll be interesting to see whether our defense can rise up, hold them off the scoreboard, and then, you know, go from there. >> I mean, Buffalo is obviously the better team in this matchup, but we’ve seen it too. That ain’t enough. >> Yeah. >> You know, >> um I mean, it’s going to be a big game for the offense again, you know, uh especially on the passing down. I mean, you got a guy here that he’s been in that Jim Schwarz defense, the wide nine now for the last six or seven years. And we seen some of that Jim Schwarz defense when he was defensive coordinator here. So, >> some of the best sack seasons in team history. >> I mean, we had like three or four guys that had 10 sacks, >> four guys with double digit sacks, >> and that’s kind of, you know, what they have with their defense. That’s the type of defense that he plays all the time. And, uh, I think one of the most under one of the underrated guys is Denzel Ward. I think he’s been an outstanding quarterback, you know, for them um throughout this his entire career uh for the Cleveland Brown. It’s just that that team has not gone anywhere or done anything. And you got a really top player in in Miles Garrett who creates problems for everybody. But there are some lapses on his part where you know and talking to Bruce Smith a couple of years ago about him pursu pursuing the play away from him like he doesn’t if he can get all high yeah he’s not going high motor all the time as to where Bruce would Bruce would make that tackle on the other side of the field you know >> yeah Bruce didn’t get enough credit for that >> no he did not Bruce was a hell of a run stopper >> down he was a man down guy man I loved him for that >> and I know that a lot of offensive coaches say when you have a pass rusher of Miles Garrett’s caliber, >> sometimes you run right at him, right, >> and make him do the part of his job that he doesn’t like. He likes rushing the passer. Maybe he doesn’t like stopping the run as much. The problem is Miles Garrett’s 295 damn pounds. >> It’s like Mario. >> He’s not this 255 lb speed guy off the edge. He’s 295. >> You can’t single him and and think you’re Yeah, we got him. You know, >> you can’t single him on rundowns even. So >> yeah, >> it’s you got to double him on pass downs >> and or have the ball come out really fast. >> Right. Exactly. So we’ll see. I I mean, like I said, it’s a a good matchup for us against a team that we should that we should beat that we should dominate from start to finish, you know? So, and just don’t let >> What are your thoughts about the Bills going into Cleveland and Shadur Sanders taking snaps for them? And I mean, they we knew >> Sean has a lot of success against rookie quarterbacks. They had four guys in camp. They traded the guy that was their opening day starter and Joe Flackle away uh to clear the decks a little bit so they could start evaluating the other guys. Um Dylan Gabriel. >> Yeah, >> he couldn’t last cuz he got hurt. Then Shadur was in and here we go. >> A little up and down. >> He’s been a little up and down, but he’s been >> steady at least and made some good throws. Well, well, I tell you what, from looking at some of the film and some of the highlights, it could be an awesome day for our pass rushers. I can tell you that right now. >> Yeah. >> I mean, he is good. >> Is that because of Shadur? Because of I think it’s because of their O line. >> Yeah. >> I think it’s because injury riddles. It’s injury really bad. And so, >> like they’ve lost both their tackles, too. Injuries. >> Sure. Door. I mean, he’s, you know, I I think from where he came in, fifth round draft pick and how they treated him the first 10 weeks or whatever it was and, you know, he still comes out and throw for 360 yards or whatever he has, you know, had a couple last couple of weeks. Um, you know, they’re still searching and but he believes in himself. >> He believes that he can that he’s going to be a top quarterback in this league and I think that comes along with being >> from who his dad is, Deon Sanders. I mean, he he has the confidence and the beliefs that he can go out there and win a football game. >> Yeah. He knows he can play. Yeah, >> he is a good deep ball thrower. That’s like one of his best assets. His problem is that short to intermediate game. And after watching the way Bobby Babage and Shawn McDermott had Drake May crossed up in the second half last week, >> right? You would think that a guy that’s even less experienced might be even more confused at times patting the ball back there or running around because that’s one thing Shadur will do. He wants to make the big play so badly he’ll hold on to the ball too long and scamper around and then before he knows it he’s on the ground and it’s a loss of nine. >> Well, yeah. Then still confusing by giving him the wrong play tag to go out there on the football field. So yeah, good luck with that. >> Unbelievable that organization. >> Did you hear Did you read about that? did about the having the wrong >> wristband. Yeah, >> come on. Head coach, you the offensive coordinator, too. I mean, >> yeah, he’s not uh Kevin Stfansky not calling the plays anymore. Tommy Ree is doing that. Uh the OC. So, they do have they have had a new play caller the last few weeks. We’ll see if it makes a difference for them on Sunday. Bills are 11 and a half point road favorites. >> Yeah, they got to get they got to get after it. They got to get after it right away. I I mean, from the start. I mean, I’m talking >> they don’t have to win by 11 and a half. All they got to do is win. Just win. >> We’re adopting the algorithm to win by a comfortable margin. Yeah, >> that’s our topic of the day. What’s it What do you think a Bill’s win needs to look like? You think it needs to be comfy? >> Uh 317. >> Okay. >> So, you’re looking for a Carolina Panthers week six game >> pretty much. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay, fair enough. Uh before we go, we want to remind you folks out there, there’s only two home games left in the regular season at Highark Stadium. And uh these two guys were nice enough to join me for a video series we’ve put together on the Bills YouTube channel called Games to Remember. Thurman’s episode, episode 4, is up right now this week on the Bills YouTube channel. talked to Thurman about the final AFC Championship game of those 90s teams when uh Thurman went off uh for 186 and three touchdowns. Talked to Steve the previous week about the 88 divisional playoffs. So you can go to the Bills YouTube channel and check that out. Just look up games to remember in the search window. Some interesting conversations with the field behind us across the way. Um if you’re too young to remember some of those games, check it out. It’s worth it’s worth checking out. And these guys give some special insight on uh exactly what went down in some of those games that you may not have heard of before. So be sure to check that out. Games to remember. And guys, thanks for doing that for us. We appreciate it. We’ll take a break here. Steve and I will be back with more on One Bills Live presented by Kida Health. It’s Buffalo Bills radio.

Hall of Fame RB Thurman Thomas joined One Bills Live. He talked about James Cook’s chase to be the league-leading rusher and his stance for Offensive Player of the Year. He went on to talk about the Bills offensive production as a whole, the diversity in the receiving game, and facing Myles Garrett and the Browns defense this Sunday.

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