Upon Further Review: Greg Rousseau's homecoming goes exactly according to plan in Bills vs. Dolphins

The Buffalo Bills’ first-round rookie had a memorable homecoming Sunday against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, recording the first two sacks of his career in a 35-0 rout.

A native of Coconut Creek, Fla., which is about 25 miles from the Dolphins’ stadium, Rousseau had more than a dozen family members and friends in attendance. It had been a little more than 22 months since he last played in front of them. At that time, Rousseau was a redshirt freshman for the University of Miami.

“It was pretty cool. You know, playing all my home games in this stadium in college, had a lot of great memories here,” he said after the win. “Had my whole family here, so it was just a blessing to be back, to be able to come back and play in my hometown and have a solid game.”

In addition to the two sacks, Rousseau split a key tackle for loss with cornerback Tre’Davious White in the first quarter. Rousseau finished with five tackles. Perhaps most significant: He played 49 of 74 defensive snaps. That was the most among defensive ends, by a fairly wide margin – Mario Addison was next with 35.

The popular belief heading into the season is that Rousseau might need some time to develop as a pro. He opted out of the 2020 season because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and had just one year with noteworthy production while with the Hurricanes.

It’s taken him two weeks to show that was a misconception. The snap counts prove the Bills believe he’s ready to contribute in a big way right now. Rousseau was part of a six-sack effort by the defense. Buffalo also racked up a whopping 11 quarterback hits.

Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said it was a gradual process in trusting Rousseau with so much playing time so soon in his career.

"Just watching him through the offseason program and then his production in the preseason, you know, we saw some things early on, but until we got the pads on in training camp, you really don't want to put any definition on what we were seeing," Frazier said. "The more we watched him in training camp, the more we watched him in meetings, the more we watched him in practices, the more our confidence grew as a staff, and then when we started playing games in the preseason, his production matched what we were seeing in training camp. The game was never too big for him, even though he had that year off without any football, there wasn't a big drop off. And so what we saw in training camp and the preseason games has continued in his first two ballgames of the season."

“Active,” coach Sean McDermott said in describing Rousseau’s performance against the Dolphins, before addressing the overall defensive effort. “Sometimes they come in bunches, like turnovers, but again it's got to work together. The coverage has to help the rush, they have to work together and I thought we did that and then I thought we did a good job of just rolling fresh bodies in there also when we can get them in some passing situations. So, I thought, anytime you can get to a quarterback like they did today and get six, that's a good sign.”

The Bills placed a high priority on improving the pass rush this offseason. While still just a small sample size, their eight sacks through two games is tied for second in the league with Minnesota behind Carolina’s 10.

“It was a lot of fun out there,” Rousseau said. “But really, even though I might get the sack, it’s just a testament to the secondary, linebackers, the D-line, all of us getting there. It was really a group effort. So, some people might get the numbers, but really, it’s the whole, all 11 of us.”

The pass rush was on point from the start against the Dolphins. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier made the perfect calls, sending members of the secondary after quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Miami’s first drive. That resulted in sacks by cornerback Taron Johnson and safety Micah Hyde on the game’s first and third play from scrimmage, respectively.

From there, it was on.

Rousseau had a pair of sacks, linebacker Matt Milano got one and so did defensive tackle Justin Zimmer. Even though defensive end A.J. Epenesa didn’t get a sack, he might have been Buffalo’s most effective rusher, with a total of eight pressures, according to analytics website Pro Football Focus. Rousseau was next with six.

“Momentum in football is a huge part of the game and when your unit’s coming up big you just feed off each other,” Rousseau said. “A.J. makes a play, Jerry (Hughes) makes a play, and it makes you more excited and now you want to go get one. It’s really a snowball effect.”

The sacks and pressures were so frequent, Hyde didn’t even realize Rousseau had his first two career sacks.

“We’ve got some big guys up front that can get after the quarterback so, any time you get up by a couple scores, force them to one-dimensional football, passing the football, you know, those guys up front are going to eat,” he said. “Good for Greg. … I didn't know he had a couple sacks, but good for him coming back home and getting a couple sacks.”