Greg Rousseau isn’t waiting around for the rest of the league to catch up.
Through two games, the Bills edge rusher has been the kind of force that changes everything up front. Buffalo is 2-0, and Rousseau has been the defender making the biggest noise in both wins. He opened Thursday night’s 41-31 victory over the Lions at the new Highmark Stadium by dropping Jared Goff twice in the first quarter, and his season line now sits at four sacks and three forced fumbles.
That pace puts him in rare company. Rousseau is tied with Hall of Famer Bruce Smith as the only Buffalo players ever to begin a season with four sacks over the first two games. He’s also the first Bills player since Smith to post at least two sacks in each of the first two games of a season.
For Rousseau, though, this doesn’t feel like a sudden breakthrough. It feels like recognition.
“I feel like the scheme change helped for sure, but I feel like I've always been a good player," Rousseau said. "I don't feel like it's like I was just not good and now it's like, 'Oh wow, now he's good.'
I feel like I've always been a good player and I feel super underrated, but it's cool. It's part of the game, just gotta keep on working."
The numbers back up the surge, but they also show just how quickly this has taken off. Rousseau had 32 sacks across his first five seasons, and his high-water mark in a single year was 8.0. He’s already halfway to that total in Buffalo’s first two games of the 2026 campaign.
The new role has clearly mattered. In Jim Leonhard’s 3-4 scheme, Rousseau has moved to outside linebacker and is rushing from a wider alignment, with Bradley Chubb on the other side. That setup has helped unlock a player Buffalo has believed in since taking him 30th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Chubb has seen the growth up close, first as an opponent with Miami and now as a teammate.
“Yeah man, he's put his ability on film, and I seen it firsthand on the sideline so many years, the long arms he has, the ability to lift, his lift his incredible, he plays around really well," Chubb said after beating the Lions Thursday night. "He’s putting it all together man and his light's shining bright right now, it's been good to see, and we’re all just trying to catch up to him, play on the same level and do what we gotta do.
Rousseau’s first two games have been built on splash plays. In the opener against Houston, both of his sacks were strip-sacks of C.J.
Stroud, and the second one sealed Buffalo’s 36-31 win with 16 seconds left. Against Detroit, he was back at it immediately, piling up two sacks and forcing a fumble against Goff.
By the end of Thursday night, he also had two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits.
Even his head coach has noticed the jump.
“It's been fun to see him grow in the scheme,” Joe Brady said.
If this is what Rousseau looks like when the scheme and the player line up, the Bills may have something much bigger than a hot start on their hands. Next up is a visit from the Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert a week from Sunday.
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Jim Leonhard Sounds Alarm On A Bills Issue Fans Can't Ignore
Through the first two games of the 2026 season, the Bills have banked a 2-0 start, but Jim Leonhard is not pretending the defense has been airtight. Buffalos defensive coordinator publicly labeled the unit boom or bust, a blunt assessment that fits the mixed results so far and puts the emphasis on what happens when the games tighten up, especially on third downs and in the red zone.
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Bills Get A Troubling Week 3 Test Despite Chargers' 0-2 Start
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There is also the matter of familiarity on the other sideline, where Mike McDaniel is in place as the Chargers new offensive playcaller and knows Buffalos defense well. Add in the frustration around the Chargers early struggles and the sense from veteran Khalil Mack that the group can still improve, and the Bills are looking at a game that may be tougher than the record suggests. [Read more 🡒]