Bills’ James Cook Grabs His Own Fumble in Stride on Bizarre Play for Big Gain

The ball took an extremely fortuitous bounce after the running back fumbled.

Bills running back James Cook turned in a rather unusual performance on Monday night, which was perfectly summed up by his 42-yard rush in the fourth quarter.

During the big run, Cook coughed up the football, only for it to fortuitously bounce right back into his hands. Cook barely needed to break stride as he regained control of the ball and continued running until Denver’s defense eventually caught up to him after a long gain that put Buffalo in position for a go-ahead touchdown (though Denver wound end up with the win after kicking a field goal as time expired).

Justin Simmons made a great play to punch the ball loose from Cook’s grasp, however in a rather bewildering moment, it took a basketball-like bounce right back into Buffalo’s running back’s possession. 

He picked it up and kept running 😱

📺: #DENvsBUF on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/J3bHxYOoK2 pic.twitter.com/HyNpmoA1sQ

— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2023

After fumbling on the first play from scrimmage, Cook almost made a second costly mistake, but it ended up working in his favor. The bizarre play left NFL fans in disbelief, who shared their reactions on social media. 

Man this is pure football gods

— PAIN (@Xommanders) November 14, 2023

So lucky but worked so well 😂

— LiftingStocks (@LiftinStocks) November 14, 2023

This really was wild, you very rarely see something like this happen!#NFL #DENvsBUF https://t.co/kegqpGJLxf

— Brandon Gebhard (@BrandonGebhard6) November 14, 2023

If there was ever a play to sum up our season more. Wow https://t.co/9kjiiViD1b

— Adam (@formulabills) November 14, 2023

Didn’t know they were playing Aussie Rules https://t.co/eMqmFekFQ7

— Jonathan Rifkind (@JonathanRifkind) November 14, 2023