Joe Brady: James Cook's ball security has to improve or carries will decrease

Published October 14, 2026 06:53 AM James Cook ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams on Monday night, but a negative play almost became his lasting memory of the game. Cook fumbled just outside the Rams’ 20-yard-line a couple of minutes into overtime and the Rams recovered to give themselves a chance to win the game. Greg Rousseau blocked a field goal attempt, however, and the Bills were able to drive for a kick of their own. Tyler Bass made that kick and the Bills won 37-34, but head coach Joe Brady said on Tuesday that the outcome does not overshadow all that happened to get to that point. Cook’s fumble was his second of the night, fourth of the season and his 11th dating back to the start of the 2025 season. He’s also run for a league-high 2,153 yards over that span, but Brady made it clear that the ball has to stop squirting out of his hands. “He’s doing so many good things running the football,” Brady said. “I don’t want to lose sight of how great he is running the ball right now. But putting the ball on the ground, it’s negating all the positive. I have all the confidence in him. That’s why I put him right back out there. But obviously, at some point there has to be consequences to when we’re putting negative stuff out there .The conversations that we’re having ongoing, James knows it’s important. It’s going to cost us football games. It almost cost us one. We can’t confuse because we won the game that that’s OK. It’s got to improve or the carries are going to decrease.”Brady noted that Josh Allen also threw an interception on Monday and said the team is generally “putting the ball in harm’s way” too often. They got a painful lesson about how that can hurt a team’s chances of winning in Denver during the playoffs last season and Brady would like to see his team avoid any similar outcomes in big moments this season.