Just to start off a candid note, nothing you’re about to read suggests that the Buffalo Bills’ defense doesn’t have room for improvement. It very obviously does, allowing 31 points in both of their first games. Now Week 1 is known for “lying” about a team’s identity, and Thursday Night Football is similarly wonky, but neither is wonky enough to make me dismiss all that. They’ve also not recorded an interception yet, have the sixth worst points per drive in the league, and the ninth worst scoring
rate; allowing their opponents to score 50% of the time.
But the pass rush! That’s been a delight and something to build off of. Buffalo has seven sacks on the season so far and 19 QB hits. It’s early yet and forecasts should be considered as accurate as the weather ones in Western New York, but that would put Buffalo on pace for about 60 sacks and 160 quarterback hits. Those numbers aren’t unachievable, with the Broncos breaking the 60-sack mark the last two seasons (63 and 68) and 164 QB hits last year.
Let’s take a look at some of their work so far this and see if it’s a lucky streak, or likely to be replicated..
The Film!
Alright, so the question was if what was happening can be replicated and the answer so far seems to be “yes.” Breaking down the plays, here’s a quick rundown of what I see.
Greg Rousseau is leading the way for the team. His success is largely dependent on his use of space and subsequent ability to disengage from the block to get after the quarterback. Rousseau’s long arm has been his bread and butter but as seen in the plays above, he’s been able to generate leverage and collapse the pocket. That’s benefitted himself directly and doesn’t exactly hurt the chances for the rest of the team either. Groot is currently on pace for 34 sacks this season which would shatter the current single-season mark of 23. I don’t expect that to continue, but would clearly be happy if it did.
Deone Walker has been the talk of the town, and for good reason. For a big man, he’s been showing off good finesse techniques. The shimmy and swim move in the clips above are good examples of that with Walker starting to get a reputation as a menace up the middle.
Bradley Chubb I described earlier this year as “capable” which was in no way intended as an insult. While I didn’t gush over anything I felt was “elite” I did indicate he could make a bigger impact than Von Miller or Joey Bosa if he remained healthy. Put differently, I felt he might be a tier below those players’ peak, but actually being present snap-to-snap would elevate him higher than those guys. So far I’m not backing off that analysis and his steady presence has been paying off for himself directly, but also the rest of the team. Chubb is currently trending toward double digit sacks himself.
Michael Hoecht is a player I was excited to see suit up for Buffalo, feeling he could become the chaos piece like Lorenzo Alexander used to be. He had a great debut last year, and was sadly injured pretty much right away. So far this season, he’s been living up to what I hoped for and he’s another player that a full season of play from would likely pay off in a big way.
The Final Straw
Yeah, it’s way too early to make sweeping declarations, but as of right now the defensive front seems legit. The team may have an emerging star in Greg Rousseau, and a strong supporting cast around him. If they can keep it up, it’ll be the first time they broke the 50-sack mark since 2023 when Leonard Floyd and Ed Oliver led the team’s 53-sack campaign. That was the only time they hit the 50s in the McDermott era, despite several years with excellent pass rush rates.
