The Buffalo Bills are coming off a mini-bye week after suffering a Week 12 Thursday night loss to the Houston Texans, sending them to 7-4 on the season, which caused them to tumble to the No. 7 seed in the AFC playoff picture after the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Arizona Cardinals.
The Bills need a win to keep pace with the New England Patriots in the AFC East, who hold a three-game lead in the division, and they'll be heading to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers without multiple key contributors.
Left tackle Dion Dawkins and right tackle Spencer Brown are both out for Week 13. Facing a pass rusher like T.J. Watt with a pair of backup tackles is not ideal, to say the least. However, the Bills can take advantage of one glaring weakness with the Steelers - run defense.
Per NextGenStats, the Steelers rank 24th in EPA per rush on defense and Pittsburgh is allowing north of 100 rushing yards per game. This is where the Bills need to lean on James Cook. Since James Cook entered the league in 2022, the Bills are 12-2 when he rushes for 100+ yards.
Considering both tackles are down, combined with Josh Allen dealing with an elbow injury, this is also the perfect way to keep Watt and Nick Herbig off of Allen. The best way to take a pass rush out of a game is by being able to lean on a good run game.
The Bills shouldn't put everything on the plate of the defending MVP in Week 13. Ride James Cook against a bad run defense, and let Buffalo's ground game be what gets them to 8-4 against a team that, frankly, doesn't pose much of a threat.
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