Chiefs S Bryan Cook’s ‘sweet’ game-winning, fumble-return lateral TD powers win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bryan Cook’s knees rose high off the ground and he pumped his arms like an Olympic sprinter as he raced 59 yards down the sideline Sunday at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany.

Veteran safety Mike Edwards had lateraled the ball to Cook, the Kansas City Chiefs’ second-year safety, after a fumble recovery and he set off like a starter’s pistol had been fired.

“Cook was rolling, man,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “I said it looked like he was the anchor leg of a 4x100 [meter dash] in track. He got those knees up and was rolling down the field.”

It was a particularly delicious turn of events for Kansas City, which led 21-0 at halftime on the strength of Cook’s first career NFL touchdown, given how it started.

Tyreek Hill, who played for the Chiefs for six seasons before being traded to the Dolphins two years ago, has chirped about his former team plenty since March 2022.

He caught a screen pass into the left flats from Tua Tagovailoa, but Kansas City cornerback Trent McDuffie — one of the players drafted with the picks acquired in the Hill deal — wasn’t fooled.

“We were in man-to-man, so it was pretty easy seeing that screen play develop,” McDuffie said.

He shot around an attempted block and fired toward Hill.

“He came up and smacked him, first of all,” Reid said. “That was a pretty aggressive hit. It was a catch and then an immediate hit. Then, he just went right for the ball — punching it down, which is tough to do as you lay a lick on him like he did.”

McDuffie said he “definitely felt it (the ball) get loose and tried to strip it out” after rocking Hill backward.

After McDuffie pried the ball free, Edwards scooped it up and started the other way but quickly realized he wouldn't get far.

“Once I got it, I felt Tyreek on my ankles and I was about to get tackled, so I was like, ‘Nah, we’ve got to do something else,’” Edwards said. “I looked back and saw my boy, BC (Cook). I was like, ‘I trust him.’ You’ve got to have trust to do some stuff like that. But I trusted him, just pitched it back and he did the rest.”

Well, with help from blocks by Edwards, cornerback Joshua Williams and defensive end Mike Danna, who sprinted well downfield to help pick off one of the last Dolphins with a chance to catch Cook.

Cook said he hadn’t scored a touchdown since a pick-six during his sophomore year at Howard before transferring to Cincinnati. He returned an interception 41 yards for a score on Oct. 20, 2018, against Morgan State in a 35-26 win.

Asked about Mahomes’ comment about his track form down the sideline, Cook said he wasn’t surprised and that he actually has another gear.

“That’s not the fastest [I’ve ever run],” said Cook, who reached 21.31 mph, according to NextGen Stats. “I ran track in high school, so I tried to bring that out.”

The touchdown, which came with 33 seconds left before halftime, stood up as the game-winning score in the Chiefs’ 21-14 win to cement their place atop the AFC standings.

“That was sweet — obviously, a huge play in the game,” Mahomes said.

Edwards knew it was a bit of a gamble to lateral to Cook there, but he figured Kansas City’s coaches were fine with it, given the situation and outcome.

“We got a touchdown out of it, so they better be good [with it],” Edwards said with a smile to laughter from reporters.

Reid was indeed fine with the play after the game.

“The McDuffie strip of Tyreek, punching the ball out, Edwards picking it up, him lateraling to Cook and Cook scoring — it doesn’t get any better than that,” Reid said.

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