Entering Week 8, the Buffalo Bills are fresh off a much-needed bye after starting the months of September and October with a near perfect 5-1 record.

However, despite the solid overall mark in the standings, there were several areas of concern for Buffalo to clean up over the past several days.

The Bills might be winning, but it hasn’t necessarily been pretty. And, that’s particularly the case on the defensive side of the ball in Western New York under first-year NFL defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

Impact of Bills’ sacks leader dwindles

Wherever one may look, the stats are damning toward Leonhard’s unit. 

And, although some players started out the year on a tear—namely defensive tackle Deone Walker and outside linebacker Gregory Rousseau—the entire unit has been a shell of itself from what it once was under former defensive-minded head coach Sean McDermott over the past nine years.

Now, it also appears that those individual stalwarts mentioned above are also beginning to fade, specifically Rousseau, who started out the year with 19 total tackles, 16 quarterback hits, eight tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and three pass deflections in the team’s first four outings of the 2026 campaign.

It appeared that the player nicknamed “Groot” was finally becoming a dominant difference-maker within a new scheme despite the overall struggles of Buffalo’s defense this season under Leonhard—a unit ranked 31st in total yards allowed entering November—but now it seems as if he’s headed back to his old ways.

What does that mean?

Well, when looking back on his past production, the sixth-year veteran defender has a history of hot starts before quickly fizzling out toward the middle and end of the season.

For example, according to Pro Football Reference, in 2022 the 6-foot-6, 266-pound pass-rusher tallied 15 total tackles, six quarterback hits, five tackles for loss, and four sacks during Buffalo’s first four matchups of the season before finishing with just 22 more tackles, only eight more quarterback hits, five additional tackles for loss, and three more sacks over the remainder of the season that year.

Furthermore, in 2024 Rousseau exploded for six total tackles, three sacks, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, and one forced fumble in the season opener against the Arizona Cardinals before adding only five more sacks the rest of the way while only averaging 0.86 tackles for loss and 1.47 quarterback hits per game in the final 15 regular season games that he suited up for.

Needless to say, fast starts out of the gate before quickly fading have been a common theme for the 26-year-old former University of Miami standout edge rusher ever since entering the professional ranks back in 2021.

And, now that trend is beginning again as Rousseau has posted just two total tackles, two pass deflections, and two quarterback hits over the past two games against the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders.

Yes, he did have a critical game-altering field goal block against the Rams on Monday Night Football, but he was quiet other than that . . . and he was practically non-existent against the Raiders on a short week.

Buffalo’s defense needs palpable production from Rousseau following bye week

So, while many players and coaches probably needed a reset during the recent bye week for Buffalo, there’s seemingly no player that probably needed one other than Rousseau.

His 39 quarterback pressures are still second in the league through seven weeks according to Pro Football Focus, but “almost sacks” only account for so much, especially with the way the rest of the defense is performing on a weekly basis. 

It’s imperative that—somehow, some way—the Bills’ top pass-rusher returns to his early-season form and avoid yet another year of a major statistical drop-off over the second half of the year.

With quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Drake Maye, and Caleb Williams still on the docket for Buffalo later on in 2026, as well as plenty of other capable gunslingers like Kyler Murray and Jordan Love, takedowns will be more important than pressures moving forward.

Getting things ramped back up in that department against the Ravens and their ailing offensive line at Highmark Stadium would be a great place to start for Rousseau.