MIAMI (WKBW) — Southern Florida is home for Bills first round pick Greg Rousseau. He grew up in Miami-Dade county. He played football at the University of Miami. It's only fitting that the rookie picked up his first career NFL sack in the area, too.
"It was a lot of fun out there," Rousseau said. "I had a lot of great memories here, [and] had my whole family here. So it was just a blessing to be able to come back and play in my hometown, and have a solid game."
It could just be something about Hard Rock Stadium. Some of Rousseau's many memories there include 15.5 sacks in one season for the Hurricanes as a redshirt freshman. He led Buffalo's pass rush with two sacks and added three more tackles, as well.
After several flashes of instant impact in the preseason, Rousseau was kept quiet in his regular season debut against the Steelers. He had as many tackles against Pittsburgh as he did sacks against Miami. He wasn't the only one, though. All week long, the Bills emphasized putting their best foot forward on Sunday.
"We knew we had to come out and start fast, and that's what we did," Rousseau said. "Momentum is a huge part of the game, and when your unit's coming up big, you just feed off each other... it's really like a snowball effect."
The snowball effect was evident all over the defense. Buffalo shut out an opponent for the first time since 2016, and the first time since Sean McDermott took over the Bills. After the dominant victory highlighted by the pass rush, it was praise all around.
"I thought Leslie called an aggressive game, and did a nice job letting those guys go too," head coach Sean McDermott said. "As I always say, the rush and the coverage have to work together. And I thought the back end was doing their part also."
"It's really just a testament to the secondary, the linebackers, and the [defensive] line," Rousseau said. "Really, it's the whole. All eleven of us."
In the Bills' shutout win, Rousseau showed just how much of an impact he can have when he's a part of that eleven. Buffalo returns home next week to host the Washington Football Team on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
