James Cook(ed) the Carolina Panther defense for 216 yards, highlighted by a 64-yard touchdown run.
The Panthers lost the turnover battle 3-0, which allowed the Bills to create a 37-point lead through three quarters.
That allowed the Bills to run the ball 35 times on Sunday.
Like Jahmyr Gibbs the week prior, Cook went against one of the league’s best rush defenses in recent weeks, but he had an explosive run and a favorable game state, allowing him to hit 19 rush attempts.
Week 8 featured seven running backs who hit the century rushing mark, which isn’t surprising considering the average margin of victory was 18.3 points.
All seven were on the victorious team.
To date this season, 42 running backs have reached 100 rushing yards in a game.
33 of them were on the winning team.
Of the nine running backs who rushed for 100 yards in a game and were on the losing team, six were leading in the fourth quarter, and one trailed the entire fourth quarter by 3 points.
Game state matters for rushing yards.
Leading or winning is generally correlated with increased rushing volume.
In chasing most rushing yards or rushing yards over prop bets, favorites or short dogs who can win should be on the list of running backs to target.
NFL Weekly Rushing Leaders, 2025:
| Week | Running Back | Rushing Yards | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derrick Henry | 169 | Buffalo Bills |
| 2 | Jonathan Taylor | 165 | Denver Broncos |
| 3 | David Montgomery | 151 | Baltimore Ravens |
| 4 | Ashton Jeanty | 138 | Chicago Bears |
| 5 | Rico Dowdle | 206 | Miami Dolphins |
| 6 | Rico Dowdle | 183 | Dallas Cowboys |
| 7 | Jahmyr Gibbs | 136 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 8 | James Cook | 216 | Carolina Panthers |
Most Week 9 Rushing Yards Prediction (Sunday): Christian McCaffrey (+1000)
McCaffrey checks in this weekend as a road favorite against the New York Giants, who allow 5.7 yards per carry to opposing running backs, ranking 32nd in the league.
In two of the last three games, McCaffrey has 100% of the 49ers' running back carries.
On the season, he has 78.7% of the carries.
In a must-win game, we’ve seen Kyle Shanahan throw all long-term health concerns out the window and ride with his No. 1 running back for nearly the entire game.
The importance of George Kittle can not be understated to the run game, as McCaffrey has averaged 0.67 yards before contact without Kittle off the field this season compared to 2.44 yards before contact when Kittle is on the field.
The Giants have been dreadful in allowing explosive rushes this season, allowing a league high 10 running back rushes to gain over 20 yards this season and two rushes longer than 50 yards.
Last week alone, the Giants allowed a 150-yard rusher and a 100-yard rusher in the same game as Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby totaled over 250 rushing yards.
McCaffrey checks the boxes of a favorite with plenty of volume in a great matchup, and this is potentially the week that he reminds us of the running back from a couple of years ago.
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Week 9 Running Back Longshot Bet: Kyle Monangai Bets
- Anytime TD (-145)
- 2 Touchdowns (+400)
- 100 + Rushing Yards (+240)
Kyle Monangai becomes the Bears' lead running back in Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals with D'Andre Swift ruled out.
The Bengals have allowed 10 running back rushing touchdowns, which trails only the Tennessee Titans, and Monangai is in line to have nearly all of the rushing work.
Ben Johnson was in the lab cooking up solutions and completely transformed the rushing attack post bye.
Before the bye week, Bears running backs averaged 3.4 yards per carry and 1.18 yards before contact.
After the bye, they have averaged 5.9 yards per carry and 3.17 yards before contact.
Over the past two weeks, Monangai has had longest rushes of 25 yards and 15 yards, his two longest rushes of the season.
He now faces a Bengals defense that ranks 28th in 20-yard rushes allowed to opposing running backs.
Fortunately for Monangai, the Bengals don’t just struggle on the ground against opposing running backs.
The Bengals have allowed a league high 5 passing touchdowns to running backs and are allowing 7.7 yards per catch.
