INDIANAPOLIS — To say the Buffalo Bills’ pass rush disappeared at the most inopportune time, January’s divisional-round playoff loss against the Cincinnati Bengals, would be an understatement.
There was every reason to think the Bills’ defensive front would dominate against a Bengals’ offensive line that had been ravaged by injuries and was relying on backups.
Instead, that group, just as with most of the rest of the team, was barely present. Facing minimal pressure, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow mainly felt comfortable in the pocket on the way to throwing for 242 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in Cincinnati’s 27-10 win.
The game put an intense spotlight on the Bills’ shortcomings. And one of the biggest was the fact no one on their defensive line made his presence felt in ways that should have done plenty to contribute to a different outcome.
Greg Rousseau, where were you?
That was a major question in the aftermath, just as it was through most of the six games and two playoff contests after defensive end Von Miller suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Thanksgiving victory at Detroit.
The Bills’ massive investment to sign Miller as a free agent — a six-year contract worth $120 million — paid initial dividends. He had eight sacks, giving him a share of the team lead with Rousseau, in the 11 games he played and also helped Rousseau and fellow members of the D-line by drawing extra blocking attention.
However, with Miller out of the lineup, there was a noticeable decline in the performance of the rest of the pass rushers. Despite his eight sacks, Rousseau, the Bills’ first-round draft pick from Miami in 2021, was the most conspicuous by his absence.
While addressing reporters during the NFL Scouting Combine, Bills coach Sean McDermott acknowledged that Rousseau had to overcome an obstacle he faced entering the league when he did.
“The thing you got to remember about Greg is he did not play his final season in college due to the Covid situation,” McDermott said. “And he comes to us, and I thought he had a good year one and a better year two. He’s an extremely driven, conscientious young man that works at his craft.
“And so, when you have that DNA, and he’s already done a little bit of this, at least, to me, the sky’s the limit as he moves forward and we move forward with him.”
The Bills face an enormous task in trying to manage their salary cap. Recent reporting had them about $16 million over the $240 million ceiling. All of the NFL’s 32 teams must be under $240 million by March 15.
To get there, the Bills must adjust the contracts of some of their top-paid players, a list that includes quarterback Josh Allen and receiver Stefon Diggs, by moving money around to lower their cap figures without reducing their salaries. They’ll also likely need to reduce salaries of some of the underperforming high-priced veterans and release others.
Perhaps their most important steps to finding a pathway back to Super Bowl contention, however, will be getting the strongest contributions possible from players under rookie contracts. That, of course, means finding players from this year’s draft who make an immediate impact as starters or regulars in substitutional rotations, and having second- and third-year roster elevate their play considerably.
That’s especially true for the younger members of the defensive line — Rousseau, ’21 second-rounder Boogie Basham, 2019 first-rounder Ed Oliver (playing under the fifth-year option of his rookie deal) and 2020 second-rounder A.J. Epenesa — considering Miller might not be available for part, if any, of the 2023 season.
The Bills must be able to count on those high picks to consistently step up and make a difference, with or without Miller, while also possibly finding additional pass-rushing help from the draft.
“We need young players to play,” General Manager Brandon Beane told me. “When we’ve been in great cap strength the last couple years, we’ve been able to bring those guys a little slower along because we’ve had vets in there. But it’s probably going to be a little bit thinner this year.
“And so not only this rookie class, but last year’s rookie class and the year before, we’re going to be counting on a lot of these guys to either fill starting roles or be key backups for us and play significant minutes. And, again, this upcoming draft is very important. And it’s right at me to make sure we, you know, we hit the right guys and get the right type of player but also the right fit into our locker room.”
“You’re not only trying to find talented players, but you’re building a team. And it’s a team that works well that has the right chemistry.”
The Bills believed that chemistry was in place for the 2022 season. A combination of factors, including injuries, helped derail the sky-high expectations to not only reach the Super Bowl, but win it.
As naturally tempting as it is to react to all that went wrong against Cincinnati, Beane said it was important to see a larger picture.
“This (past) year, we just couldn’t, you know, for whatever reason, odds and ends, we just, you know, second half of the season did not play to the same consistency level,” he told me. “Yes, we were dealing with some things, but you know, no excuses. We know, we’ve got to be better in areas. And, again, we won 13 games, so I want to remind people, we don’t want to overreact to one game. That was a very good team that we lost to that had won 10 games in a row. And Cincinnati was in the Super Bowl the year before, so they were every bit the challenger that Kansas City has been. I think Kansas City has just been given more clout to people.”
Beane pointed out that the over-the-top hopes Bills fans and numerous observers had for the team entering last season likely would have been different had the team’s divisional-round loss at Kansas City been as decisive as the defeat against Cincinnati.
“So, you don't want to overreact,” Beane said. “Yes, there were things. Up front, we didn’t play as well on either side of the ball that we wanted to. But we played well in spurts on both sides of the ball this year. It’s just, at that moment, we didn’t and we know we got to be better.”