Greg Rousseau has turned out to be a complete slug.

[BADOLBILZ]

56 minutes ago, PepeSilvia said:

I don’t think anyone would disagree that he is a “solid” player. The biggest issue is that he’s a starting DE (that everyone keeps saying) is great against the run, on the 31 st ranked rush defense and teams averaging 5.8 ypc. Another thing a lot of people like to say is “rush defense isn’t an individual stat, its a team stat!” Ok the point is you can find a lot of DE’s that are “great” against the run for far less than $18 million/year. The production just doesn’t match the contract. Congrats! He had 2.5 sacks against a 4-12 football team and rookie QB. Let’s see him have a game like that against a good team. 
 

Maybe a better role would be for him to be rotational player, who comes in on early downs against the run, and later in the game can be used to help with pressure. But with the lack of talent and depth on the defensive line, he has to play every down. 

 

 

The biggest issue is that you don't have any perspective if you think that a guy who as a rookie playing 50% of snaps already lead the NFL in amount of run stops and puts up 7-8 sacks per year on an otherwise middling defensive line is a rotational player.     

[colin]

1 hour ago, folz said:

 

Look, I'm not saying he's more than he is, but let's not totally discount his efforts. Here are some good games over the last two years. They aren't all monster games and sure we'd like more consistency, but Greg is a very solid player (even if he hasn't quite lived up to his draft status).

 

2025

week 5 vs. New England: 1 sack, 6 tackles, 2 TFLs, 3 QB hits

week 7 vs. Carolina: 1 sack, 3 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit, 1 FF

week 9 vs. Kansas City: 0.5 sacks, 6 tackles, 4 QB hits

week 12 vs, Houston: 6 tackles

week 16 vs. Cleveland: 2.5 sacks, 3 tackles, 2 TFLs, 7 QB hits

 

2024

week 1 v. Arizona: 3 sacks, 6 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 QB hits, 1 FF

week 8 vs. Seattle: 4 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 QB hit, 2 PDs

week 9 vs. Miami: 1 sack, 7 tackles, 3 TFLs, 1 QB hit

week 10 vs. Indy: 1 sack, 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit, 1 FF

week 13 vs. San Fran: 1 sack, 4 tackles, 3 TFLs, 1 QB HIT, 1 FR

2024 Playoffs:

vs. Denver: 1 sack, 2 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 QB hit

vs. Baltimore: 1 sack, 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit

 

 

if he averages a sack and 1.5 tfl in the playoffs he's a bargain.

[BuffaloRebound]

Rousseau is a fine player and his contract is fine.  He basically won the game yesterday.  If Oliver comes back, we might actually have a good 4 man pass rush with Bosa, Oliver, Walker and Rousseau 

[Augie]

11 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Rousseau is a fine player and his contract is fine.  He basically won the game yesterday.  If Oliver comes back, we might actually have a good 4 man pass rush with Bosa, Oliver, Walker and Rousseau 

 

I think we’d be very formidable if we could add Hoecht back to that mix, but it was not meant to be. Rousseau had a great game yesterday and had a huge impact on the outcome. 

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, Augie said:

 

https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/board/103198/contents/lets-talk-about-how-stupid-and-cheap-mike-brown-is-235334317/

 

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2018/7/11/17552714/former-nfl-wr-t-j-houshmandzadeh-reveals-just-how-cheap-the-bengals-used-to-be-pittsburgh-steelers

 

https://arrowheadaddict.com/bengals-cant-stop-cheaping-out-afc-rivals-chiefs-love-it-01jxj61g6ypa

 

https://www.fox19.com/2025/02/26/bengals-receive-f-f-some-categories-nflpas-annual-report-card/

 

This is too easy. Shared communal jock straps? A couple PLAYERS bought new jock straps for everyone? BYO Gatorade?   There are a lot of ways to be cheap, from contract structure to nutrition. 

 

I went to school in Cincinnati and my best friend still has Bengals season tickets. The stories are endless, like not clearing the seat of snow a week ago, per league requirements. It’s not the Bills with 8 feet of snow, but they couldn’t even do that to prepare for game day.

 

 

.

 

my bad, I thought we were talking about money spent on players (because that was the topic we were discussing).  

 

but hey, you know a guy...

[RoyBatty is alive]

20 hours ago, Walking Tall said:

How’d he do the previous 8 or so before that?

 

Boy, you sure got me, huh?

Actually, he/she did but if you want to keep digging your hole deeper, dont let me stop you.  

 

A more realistic defense of your original thesis would be how Groot totally whiffed on a sack of Sanders early in the game, he had a clear shot at him and Sanders got another one of those painful 3rd and long conversions for a 1st down.

[SoonerBillsFan]

To the OP post...Except when playing the Browns lol

[Success]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

 

I think we’d be very formidable if we could add Hoecht back to that mix, but it was not meant to be. Rousseau had a great game yesterday and had a huge impact on the outcome. 

 

The Hoecht loss was really tough.  He was transformative for the defense.

 

Here's hoping Oliver can come back strong.

 

[bubba2018]

People who think Rousseau is a game changer are just delusional. We played the Browns with Sanders. Can people please for the love of god stop acting like Rousseau is all of a sudden a force. He’s not and never has been. He has a chance to prove something in the playoffs but he will disappear along with the rest of our defensive line. It happens every single year.

[FireChans]

4 hours ago, eball said:

This thread aged well.  Yet another example of knee-jerk threads started by folks who only look at box scores.

 

It only took until week 16

[Augie]

35 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

my bad, I thought we were talking about money spent on players (because that was the topic we were discussing).  

 

but hey, you know a guy...

 

We are talking about players and contracts as well. I don’t know at I wasted my time here. Mike Brown is cheap, and the sun is hot. You can take my word for it, or try to argue. I don’t care which. 

14 minutes ago, Success said:

 

The Hoecht loss was really tough.  He was transformative for the defense.

 

Here's hoping Oliver can come back strong.

 

 

He was a missing piece, that versatile chess piece that allows us to do different things and have waves of depth. Man plans, God laughs. 

[ColoradoBills]

4 minutes ago, Augie said:

He was a missing piece, that versatile chess piece that allows us to do different things and have waves of depth. Man plans, God laughs. 

 

It would have been interesting to see how Groot, Bosa, Hoecht, Oliver, Jones and Walker taking the majority of snaps on the DL would

have fared.

[Augie]

Just now, ColoradoBills said:

 

It would have been interesting to see how Groot, Bosa, Hoecht, Oliver, Jones and Walker taking the majority of snaps on the DL would

have fared.

 

They fixed the OL, then went all in fixing the DL last offseason. If healthy, I feel very good about the LOS. That’s about a dozen guys on both sides of the ball. A single legit boundary WR/deep threat is all it takes to change the way our offense works, but they sure do seem hard to come by. 

[MiracleAtRich1393]

17 hours ago, Chaos said:

One thing I have come to respect a lot from Rousseu is his ability to be avaiable for every game.  This makes him an exception on the Bills defense. 

Great you just jinxed it 😅

[cle23]

7 hours ago, FireChans said:

It only took until week 16

 

And the Browns' 5th string tackles.