ORCHARD PARK — When Greg Rousseau lines up, his shoulders are pointed at the quarterback. More importantly, so are his eyes.
For most of his career, Rousseau started each play with his hand in the ground. And his sightline was limited until he burst out of his stance. But now Rousseau lines up in a two-point stance, which allows him to use his 6-foot-7 frame to scan the entire field.
In switching from a 4-3 defensive end to a 3-4 outside linebacker under new Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, it was a given that Rousseau would have to adjust to playing on his feet. But it’s also not uncommon for someone like him to revert to a three-point stance in four-man fronts, considering it’s a move back to defensive end.
But Rousseau has kept his two-point stance across the board. And in both of his sacks in Buffalo’s season-opening 36-31 win over the Houston Texans Sunday — that resulted in fumbles — Rousseau started in a two-point stance.
“Being able to see everything, you can steal a couple reps,” Rousseau told GNN Sports at his locker after practice Tuesday. “… Put a helmet on, you can’t really see too far over your hand if you put your hand in front of your face. So (in a three-point stance) you get up and you see what’s going on. Two-point, you kind of see it, you kind of anticipate it, kind of feel it coming.”
Rousseau plays a little bit wider from the offensive tackle than he did in Sean McDermott’s scheme, which creates better angles to pursue the quarterback. But Rousseau also gets to play on a side he feels more comfortable with.
A left, Rousseau’s preference is to play on the defensive left edge. It’s where he played as a rookie and the University of Miami. But Von Miller preferred to play on the left, so Rousseau deferred to the veteran. And then Joey Bosa also liked the left side, so Rousseau bowed again.
Rousseau still got to play plenty on the left side, but the split went from 92.8% in his first two seasons to 57% over the previous three seasons. It’s still likely that Rousseau will play some on the right side — he played 54 of his 63 snaps on the left against Houston — but the Bills found a perfect schematic match with Bradley Chubb, who prefers the right side.
“It’s my natural side,” Rousseau said. “It gives me more shots to play my left side. I still play on the right too, but give me a couple more reps per game (on the left).”
All of it combined allowed Rousseau to generate the pass rush many have been waiting five years to see. Not only did Rousseau have two strip-sacks, but he had five quarterback hits and seven pressures against the Texans.
But his play also goes beyond the box score. He is still one of the NFL’s premier players at setting the edge and not allowing running backs to turn the corner. With less than five minutes to go, the Texans tried to block Rousseau with tight end Dalton Schultz on a toss play.
Schultz couldn’t move Rousseau, who kept running back David Montgomery from getting around him and created time for Ed Oliver and Dorian Williams to tackle him for a loss. The play set up third and long, and eventually, a punt that set up the go-ahead touchdown drive.
Rousseau has been making that play since the Bills made him a first-round pick in 2021, but in his new role as an outside linebacker, sometimes it requires dropping into coverage. And Rousseau also knocked down a pass in the game.
“He was phenomenal all game long,” Leonhard said. “He started hot, finished strong. But put the tape on, he was consistently winning his matchups and causing issues. The highlight of the game for me was just to see how he played and the confidence he played with. … He kind of did a little bit of everything.”
Leonhard is asking Rousseau to chase quarterbacks more consistently, compared to being a pocket pusher and contain man in McDermott’s scheme. Rousseau never thought much of it during his first five seasons because that was the only NFL scheme he played in.
It’s not the first time Rousseau has played well opening week, notching 20 tackles (seven for a loss), 10 quarterback hits, six sacks and four forced fumbles during his career, including a three-sack game to open the season against the Arizona Cardinals in 2024.
He’s been equally as good during Week 2, notching 17 tackles (seven for a loss), four quarterback hits and 3 ½ sacks. But Rousseau still doesn’t plan on chasing stats, something he has downplayed throughout his career.
“I want to be a good teammate,” Rousseau said. “If Chubb has a good rush on a play, I don’t want to go inside and sell him out. I want him to get our sack. I don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, we’re both trying to get a sack,’ and nobody gets it because I’m trying to chase a number for myself.”
NOTES: LB Terrel Bernard (calf), S Cole Bishop (knee/groin) and RB Ty Johnson (hamstring) were limited Tuesday. … DL T.J. Sanders (knee/illness) didn’t practice.