Cook's 117-yard, 2-TD performance propels Bills closer to playoff berth with 23-20 win over Browns

CLEVELAND (AP) — James Cook continues to show opposing defenses that they have to factor in more than Josh Allen when facing the Buffalo Bills.

With Allen playing through a foot injury that he suffered in the first half, Cook rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns as the Bills drew closer to a playoff berth with a 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

“He's the best back in football. I don't know how the awards will shake out, but he should be in the running for every award. He makes our offense go," said Allen, who played the second half despite injuring his right foot during the second quarter after being sacked.

Ty Johnson also had a rushing score for the Bills (11-4), who have won four straight and five of six. Buffalo still needs a loss or tie by Houston or Indianapolis to wrap up a playoff spot for the seventh consecutive season.

It was only the third time this season Allen didn't have a rushing or passing TD. The reigning NFL MVP was 12 of 19 passing for 130 yards and also rushed for 17 yards on seven carries.

Allen was favoring the foot after being sacked by Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Alex Wright for a 22-yard loss to Buffalo's 1-yard line with 60 seconds remaining in the first half.

“Just flamed up on me. Pain subsided, so we're good,” Allen said about the injury.

It was the ninth 100-yard rushing game this season for Cook, tied with Thurman Thomas for second in franchise history. OJ Simpson holds the single-season mark with 11. The four-year veteran also took over the NFL rushing lead with 1,532 yards. Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor is second with 1,443 with the Colts facing San Francisco on Monday night.

“Yeah, but there’s a lot of room for improvement," said Cook when asked if he's playing his best football since being drafted in the second round in 2022. “It ain’t over yet, so we just gotta keep going.”

Cook tied it at 7 midway through the first quarter on a 44-yard run up the middle where he eluded tackle attempts by Cleveland's Mohamoud Diabate and Adin Huntington at the line of scrimmage. Grant Delpit had a chance to make a stop at the 27, but was spun around and unable to make the tackle.

“We had to be able to run the football, be two dimensional," coach Sean McDermott said. "Usually when you have a run like that you have wide receivers blocking down the field and that’s a good thing for us as well.”

Cook then extended Buffalo's lead to 20-10 with 2:23 remaining on a 3-yard carry up the middle.

The Bills took a 23-10 lead with 9:37 remaining in the third quarter on Michael Badgley's 41-yard field goal. Cleveland rallied to get within a field goal but couldn't generate anything on its final two drives.

Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders completed 20 of 29 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. He also was the Browns’ leading rusher with four carries for 49 yards. The fifth-round pick also threw two interceptions which accounted for 10 of Buffalo’s points — Johnson’s 2-yard TD run early in the second quarter and Badgley’s field goal

Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. scored both Browns’ touchdowns, including a 1-yard run in the third quarter to get them within 23-17.

Raheim Sanders rushed for 42 yards on 11 carries. He was pressed into action when Quinshon Judkins was carted off after suffering a dislocated right ankle and broken fibula late in the second quarter.

“Yeah, in total we ended up minus in the turnover margin. It’s hard to do that versus a very good football team. And then they made their plays. We didn’t make enough at the end," coach Kevin Stefanski said.

The half-sack gave Garrett 22 on the season. He needs one more sack in the Browns' final two games to pass Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt for the single-season mark.

Garrett said he disappointed “a bit” that he wasn't able to get the record against the Bills.

“I wanted to get it for them, have some family show up. They felt like it was going to be the game in the moment, and so definitely want to give them something to smile about," he said.

Garrett recorded only one pressure in 22 pass rushes. Buffalo left tackle Dion Dawkins held him to one pressure in 18 pass rushes.

“I’m gonna keep saying it: I’m thankful that I’m a good tackle. I have a great guard and a great center. We make the right calls,” Dawkins said. “And the good thing about O-line play, you don’t always have to do it by yourself, even though we all have our individual battles, but it takes five of us to block.”

Buffalo defensive end Greg Rousseau had a season-high 2 1/2 sacks and nine pressures. It's the second time in his five-year career he has had at least 2 1/2 sacks.

“We needed that from Greg. We believe that he can do that. He can impact the game. So it’s good to see him get back in that kind mindset,” McDermott said.

Cleveland got the opening kickoff and scored when Sanders rolled right and connected with Fannin for a 13-yard TD. It was the first time in five starts that Sanders directed Cleveland to points on its first possession.

It was also the seventh straight game in which the Bills' opponent opened the scoring.

Bills LB Shaq Thompson (neck) was injured in the first quarter and did not return.

Buffalo: Hosts Philadelphia next Sunday.

Cleveland: Hosts Pittsburgh next Sunday.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins (10) is carted off the field with an injury against the Buffalo Bills during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) leave the field after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) is sacked by Buffalo Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau during the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott leaves the field during halftime of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders eludes the tackle of Buffalo Bills defensive end AJ Epenesa (57)during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook III (4) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook III celebrates his touchdown against the Cleveland Browns during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

PHOENIX (AP) — Vice President JD Vance said Sunday the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America,” declining to condemn a streak of antisemitism that has divided the Republican Party and roiled the opening days of Turning Point USA’s annual convention.

After a long weekend of debates about whether the movement should exclude figures such as bigoted podcaster Nick Fuentes, Vance came down firmly against “purity tests.”

“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform,” Vance said during the convention’s closing speech.

Turning Point leader Erika Kirk, who took the helm after the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk, has endorsed Vance as a potential successor to President Donald Trump, a helpful nod from an influential group with an army of volunteers.

But the tension on display at the four-day gathering foreshadowed the treacherous political waters that Vance, or anyone else who seeks the next Republican presidential nomination, will need to navigate in the coming years. Top voices in the “Make America Great Again” movement are jockeying for influence as Republicans begin considering a future without Trump, and there is no clear path to holding his coalition together.

The Republican Party’s identity has been intertwined with Trump for a decade, but he's constitutionally ineligible to run for reelection despite his musings about serving a third term. Tucker Carlson said people are wondering, “who gets the machinery when the president exits the scene?”

So far, it looks like settling that question will come with a lot of fighting among conservatives. The Turning Point conference featured arguments about antisemitism, Israel and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.

Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the conservative media outlet Daily Wire, used his speech on the conference's opening night to denounce “charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty."

“These people are frauds and they are grifters and they do not deserve your time,” Shapiro said. He specifically called out Carlson for hosting Fuentes for a friendly interview on his podcast.

Carlson brushed off the criticism when he took the stage barely an hour later, and he said the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “totally fake.”

“There are people who are mad at JD Vance, and they’re stirring up a lot of this in order to make sure he doesn’t get the nomination,” he said. Carlson described Vance as “the one person” who subscribes to the “core idea of the Trump coalition,” which Carlson said was “America first.”

Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet framed the discord as a healthy debate about the future of the movement, an uncomfortable but necessary process of finding consensus.

“We’re not hive-minded commies,” he wrote on social media. “Let it play out.”

Vance acknowledged the controversies that dominated the Turning Point conference, but he did not define any boundaries for the conservative movement besides patriotism.

“We don’t care if you’re white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring, or somewhere in between,” he said.

Vance didn’t name anyone, but his comments came in the midst of an increasingly contentious debate over whether the right should give a platform to commentators espousing antisemitic views, particularly Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity. Fuentes has a growing audience, as does top-rated podcaster Candace Owens, who routinely shares antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” he said.

Vance ticked off what he said were the accomplishments of the administration as it approaches the one-year mark, noting its efforts at the border and on the economy. He emphasized efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies, drawing applause by saying they had been relegated to the “dustbin of history."

“In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore,” he said.

Vance also said the U.S. “always will be a Christian nation,” adding that “Christianity is America’s creed, the shared moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond."

Those comments resonated with Isaiah White-Diller, an 18 year-old from Yuma, Arizona, who said he would support Vance if he runs for president.

“I have my right to be Christian here, I have my right to say whatever I want,” White-Diller said.

Vance hasn't disclosed his future plans, but Erika Kirk said Thursday that Turning Point wanted Vance “elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.” The next president will be the 48th in U.S. history.

Turning Point is a major force on the right, with a nationwide volunteer network that can be especially helpful in early primary states, when candidates rely on grassroots energy to build momentum. In a surprise appearance, rapper Nicki Minaj spoke effusively about Trump and Vance.

Vance was close with Charlie Kirk, and they supported each other over the years. After Kirk’s assassination on a college campus in Utah, the vice president flew out on Air Force Two to collect Kirk’s remains and bring them home to Arizona. The vice president helped uniformed service members carry the casket to the plane.

Emily Meck, 18, from Pine City, New York, said she appreciated Vance making space for a wide variety of views.

“We are free-thinkers, we’re going to have these disagreements, we’re going to have our own thoughts,” Meck said.

Trump has spoken highly of both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential successors, even suggesting they could form a future Republican ticket. Rubio has said he would support Vance.

Asked in August whether Vance was the “heir apparent,” Trump said “most likely.”

“It’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favorite at this point,” he said.

Vice President JD Vance speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Supporters cheer during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Erika Kirk speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Nicki Minaj speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Erika Kirk greets Vice President JD Vance during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Vice President JD Vance speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Attendees sit in prayer during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Attendees observe the National Anthem during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Attendees applaud during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)