The Buffalo Bills had an explosive 2-0 start to the 2026 season where quarterback Josh Allen threw for 9 total touchdowns against the Houston Texans (36-31 win in Week 1) and the Detroit Lions (41-31 in Week 2). After just 2 games, Allen is a favourite to win the NFL MVP award on Polymarket with 23% odds at the time of writing.
Allen’s trusted running back James Cook recently hopped on the Nightcap to shed light on what it really feels like to be on an offense with a gifted QB who turns routine broken plays into pure chaos.
“What makes him so unique is that he can get off script. They can have the perfect defense call, but he put that ball in one hand, he ain’t chucking nothing, he going to have the ball in one hand, carry it like it’s a loaf of bread, and then he can break down your defense. And that’s so frustrating because we got the perfect call for your offense, and all of a sudden he break contain and he’s out the gate,” Shannon Sharpe commented about Allen, while asking Cook about the QB’s talent.
“Yeah, I be looking on plays like that when he’s scrambling and stuff like that; I just be thinking, get open, and when he’s running, chase the ball. You never know what he might do. He might do some crazy s***,” James Cook marveled at Josh Allen’s talent.
Former Bills head coach Sean McDermott once candidly admitted that watching Josh Allen abandon the offensive structure and pull off impossible, spontaneous plays leaves him doing 2 things: marveling and “blacking out, a little bit of both.”
That on-the-spot decision-making, backyard brand of football has given opposing defensive coordinators sleepless nights for years, but as it turns out, Allen’s own teammates are often just as stunned by what he pulls off in the heat of the moment.
Josh Allen has thrown for 582 yards, 5 TDs, completing 40 of 60 passes at a 66.7% pass completion rate that’s earned him a 125.8 passer rating through the first 2 games of the 2026 NFL season. He has also logged 92 yards and 4 scores on the ground. The shift from a defense-minded Sean McDermott to an offense-minded Joe Brady has improved Josh Allen by a huge margin.
“I mean, we’re just playing our football. I mean, and Joe is letting us just play free, man. Just play, and then just going out there and playing for the team and just putting up points, I guess,” James Cook, who rushed for 135 yards and a score against the Lions, said.
Despite winning only one NFL MVP, Josh Allen has put in some great seasons for the Bills. However, he has been unable to take them to the Super Bowl. With the form he showed at the start of the season, that might just change.
According to James Cook, something has definitely changed in the approach that Josh Allen has adopted behind the scenes.
“I just been seeing that he been coming in each and every week. I mean, he come in there prepare his ass off. I mean, be the first one in there, the last one to leave. So I mean, just taking that extra step to go get a chip, I guess.”
James Cook and Josh Allen have been a lethal rushing QB-RB duo over the 68 games they’ve played together. James Cook has logged 876 carries and 33 rushing touchdowns, while Allen has contributed 460 carries and 83 rushing touchdowns. Cook also led the league in rushing yards in 2025 with 1,621 yards.
It remains to be seen whether the offensive shift under Joe Brady and their move to a new stadium will push the Bills to a Super Bowl win this year. Nevertheless, Josh Allen and James Cook are expected to play a huge role in their story.