The Bills defeated the Jets at home in Orchard Park on Sunday 20-12, paying back a loss earlier this season to the club while improving their division record to 2-2 on the year and to 10-3 overall.
Head coach Sean McDermott had called his younger defensive players to ’step up’ last week following the loss of OLB Von Miller to a season-ending injury.
And on Sunday, they did just that.
Bills DE Greg Rousseau had 2 sacks and a pass defended to go with a strip-sack fumble. It was the second-year pro’s third multi-sack performance of his NFL career and his 7 sacks this season are a career-high for the University of Miami product.
The second time in the game that Jets QB Joe Flacco played in relief of Mike White, Rousseau sacked him from the left side.
“I went speed to power, started off with a double swipe,” Rousseau said to WIVB-TV. “I felt that he was kind of oversetting me and I just came underneath, but I know for sure that the secondary was holding up, and then I’ve got three other dogs out there with me rushing. So really our mentality is kind of like four equals one. I can win on one side, somebody else can win. If somebody else isn’t doing their job, then the quarterback just gets flushed out and runs away. So it’s four equals one every single play we make.”
As if the big performance from one of the Bills biggest defensemen wasn’t enough, they got one from another big presence from the team’s same position group.
DE AJ Epenesa had a sack, pass breakup, and five tackles on the day. His play on the Bills final defensive snap play saw him bat down a pass at the line of scrimmage that ended the game.
“It gives us a whole bunch of confidence,” Epenesa said. “I mean we all believe in each other, believe in ourselves that we can go out there and win these one-on-ones and make big plays. But now that things have unfolded the way they have we just have that much more belief in each other,”
After the game, Rousseau also spoke about answering the call in Miller’s absence.
“We know we gotta step up but Von’s still with us. He’s still paying attention, he’s still in our meetings, on the phone, zoom all that. We’re doing it, we’re doing it for him, we’re doing it for us, so we don’t see it as he’s out. We just see it as we gotta step up, do our one eleventh out there and make plays and get the job done,”
Count Bills veteran DE Shaq Lawson is among those who believe in the team’s group of young defensive players to make that impact on the field.
“All our d-ends are either first or second-round picks in the past,” Lawson pointed out. I mean they drafted them and they brought me back for a reason so I feel like we can do it. And that’s what I tell them boys, continue to have faith.”
The team will have a chance to take another big step toward winning a division crown for the third straight year next Sunday when they host the Miami Dolphins at home as well.
With a win, the Bills will have bested both of the AFC East teams that beat them previously this season.
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