6 observations from the Week 1 snap counts for the Buffalo Bills

Greg Rousseau leads the way in snaps at defensive end

One position that has always been by a committee under head coach Sean McDermott has been defensive end. That didn’t change against the Rams but it might be surprising how the snaps were split among the four defensive ends active for that game.

Greg Rousseau led the way with 45 snaps, which was 67% of the defensive snaps, and this is one of the higher percentages for a single player over the past few years. In the past, most defensive ends haven’t played much over 50% and this could be an indication that the Bills want Rousseau to play more entering his second season.

After Rousseau, it was A.J. Epenesa and Von Miller with 36 and 35 snaps respectively. The total for Miller was probably lower than expected but he was very efficient with his snaps as he had two sacks and three QB hits in this game.

The emergence of Epenesa was great to see as he has had an underwhelming two years with the Buffalo Bills but against the Rams looked quick and was getting consistent pressure on Matthew Stafford. He finished with 1.5 sacks and led the team in QB hits with four.

The final defensive end was Boogie Basham, who played 26 snaps (39%). The Bills pass rush was great against the Los Angeles Rams and I expect the rotation to continue to be similar to this on weekly basis as long as it continues to be effective.