One day after Halloween, Greg Rousseau was still giving the Ravens something to worry about.
The Buffalo Bills outside linebacker kept the heat on Baltimore all afternoon Sunday at Highmark Stadium, finishing with six pressures, one sack, three tackles and two passes defensed in Buffalo’s 36-10 win. For Ravens right tackle Roger Rosengarten, it was the kind of day that can linger long after the final whistle.
Bills defensive lineman Ed Oliver said, “Greg is a monster, been a monster, so he’s going to always continue to be a monster, I guess.”
Baltimore tried to sort out Rousseau with a mix of looks, but it didn’t change much. He logged a team-high six pressures and a sack against Rosengarten, according to Next Gen Stats, with five of those pressures coming against Rosengarten.
The Ravens’ first play from scrimmage was the only play of the day for quarterback Lamar Jackson on his right hand. It collided with Rousseau on Jacob, and Rosengarten took responsibility for needing to have kept Rousseau “one hand away” from Jac.
Rousseau finished with three total tackles, three quarterback hits and two passes defended as well. Of course, the Ravens offensive line is not the first to struggle with Rousseau this season.
Through seven games, Rousseau has matched his sack total from 16 games last season, and he’s at one off his single-season high of eight, which he reached in 2022 and ’24.
His first-half sack of Ravens third-string quarterback Joe Fagnano was his first sack since the Bills’ third game this season, when he had two against the Chargers.
While his six sacks have catapulted him into national conversations, his teammates say they’ve seen the same Greg Rousseau.
“Greg has been such an elite player,” defensive lineman DeWayne Carter said. “And I think this year is he’s finally getting the recognition that he deserves.
I mean, he can do so many things, and he plays every down, whether it’s pass, run, screen, drive. It doesn’t matter.”
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Rousseau’s seven sacks in the NFL, a half-sack behind the Houston Texans’ Will Anderson Jr., come with opponents adjusting their game plans around him.
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The Bills’ defense also had to deal with a Ravens offense that entered Week 9 with the NFL’s fifth-ranked scoring unit at 29.4 points allowed per game. Yes, Baltimore was down to an injury-depleted group, but Buffalo handled what was in front of it and held the Ravens to 10 points.
Rousseau felt the defense did a good job getting pressure with four, and he said the game plan was to be more aggressive coming out of the bye week. Closing out the game and allowing just three points in the second half was a positive for the defense.
And if Baltimore starts jamming Greg Rousseau, it sounds like Buffalo has a simple answer.
“If they’re jamming Greg, it should open up opportunities, one-on-ones for somebody else,” coach Joe Brady said. “W}@D6 E24<=6X s6@?
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