If there is one defensive player for the Buffalo Bills that has stood out the most among the entire unit, it’s OLB Greg Rousseau. For the past five seasons, Rousseau has shown to be a solid run-defender, but the pass rush had been a little inconsistent.
The most sacks he has recorded in a season is eight, which he achieved twice in 2022 and 2024. He was one sack short of getting this third season of eight sacks last season.
Rousseau had been in a 4-3 defense where he was coming off the edge with his hand in the dirt. Once Jim Leonhard was hired and the 3-4 scheme was going to be implemented, Rousseau was switched to outside linebacker and he has been thriving in Leonhard's system.
Bills' 3-4 defense has been very kind to Greg Rousseau
Rousseau has been extremely disruptive in Buffalo’s first two games with 4 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Heading into Week 3, he ranks No. 1 in both categories. To put it into perspective, Joey Bosa led the league last season with five all season long and Rousseau is just two away from reaching that. Absolutely impressive.
NFL Nation writers from ESPN recently wrote about “surprise early-season trends” involving all 32 teams, and Nick Suss who covers the Bills wrote about Rousseau and how the verdict of Rousseau being a “top-tier pass rusher” is real.
"Rousseau has 4.0 sacks and nine pressures. Since 2018, the only other edge rushers to start a season with that many sacks and pressures through two games have been Aidan Hutchinson (2024), T.J. Watt (2023) and Chandler Jones (2021). That's All-Pro company, and Rousseau is doing it without fluke sacks; only one of his takedowns registers among the 20 quickest sacks from snap to tackle. His sacks appear to be products of good all-around play, not one-off big moments." said Suss.
There is no question that Rousseau has been argubaly the best at his position through the first two weeks, but it also puts him in a spot to where he has to keep delivering at a high level moving forward. Will he be able to live up to those expectations?
Fast start by Greg Rousseau means more pressure moving forward
When a player builds up momentum, fans are obviously going to be excited because they like seeing the success. With Rousseau, the Bills have managed to close out a win in Week 1 and then get to Jared Goff early on in Week 2.
Now granted, will Rousseau get 2 sacks every game? Most likely not. However, if Rousseau's production starts to consistently decline each week, it's going to cause some frustration among fans. Players are bound to have bad games, everyone does. But the last thing that Bills fans want to see is Rousseau's production completely fall off.
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