ORCHARD PARK — Marcell Dareus was bursting at the seams with such enthusiasm the defensive lineman had difficulty containing himself Monday, a day after putting the charge back in the Buffalo Bills pass rush.
The rookie first-round pick backslapped teammates, chuckled as reserve defensive tackle Kellen Heard made faces at him from behind reporters gathered at Dareus’ locker, and he greeted every question with a wide, toothy grin.
“I’m a smiling guy, man,” Dareus said. “So I can look over at Dwan (Edwards), who’s locker is right next to me and say, ‘Hey, we played good last night.’ It feels good, there’s a lot of smiling faces around here, not just mine.”
The Bills defenders have plenty to be happy about after Dareus led the way in a 23-0 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday. He had 2 1/2 of Buffalo’s nine sacks in helping the team improve to 5-2 heading into an AFC East showdown against the visiting Jets (4-3) this weekend.
Buffalo is tied with New England for the division lead, and is one win short of getting off to its best start since going 7-1 to open the 1993 season.
Most encouraging is how the defense finally made a difference on a team that was becoming overly reliant on an offense that’s scored 20-plus points in each of its seven games.
The nine sacks in one game are the second-most in franchise history, and two short of the team record set in 1964. Buffalo matched its season total with four sacks in the first half alone in eventually handing Washington’s Mike Shanahan his first shutout loss in 24 seasons as an NFL coach or coordinator.
And Dareus warned, this was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
He was referring to the entire defensive front, which created havoc against a banged-up Redskins offense missing five regulars, including a pair of starting linemen.
And yet it was an unexpected showing by a Bills unit playing without two key regulars: defensive tackle Kyle Williams (foot) and after linebacker Shawne Merriman (Achilles tendon) was placed on injured reserve last week.
Most of the sacks came with Buffalo using a four-man rush. Dareus used his 6-foot-3, 340-pound frame to drive up the middle and collapse the pocket around John Beck, who was caught holding the ball too long.
By the second half, Beck was over-throwing receivers over the middle and into double-coverage to avoid the Bills’ rush.
Buffalo had two interceptions to up its NFL-leading total to 14 — three more than last season. And the Bills once-leaky defense limited the Redskins to 178 yards after allowing 400 in each of its five previous games.
“I think guys got a taste of playing well and gained confidence as the game went on,” coach Chan Gailey said. “We’ve pressured the quarterback this year, but we weren’t getting sacks, but it created interceptions. This week, (Beck) was holding it and not wanting to throw interceptions. And we got sacks. It probably was going to happen, but I just didn’t think it would happen nine-worth in this ball game.”
Linebacker Chris Kelsay was impressed by Dareus.
“He’s a force to be reckoned with,” Kelsay said. “He’s got a number of years ahead of him playing like that. We’re fortunate that he’s on our side.”
After opening the season at defensive end, Dareus shined in his first start at tackle in place of Williams. It’s a position he played at Alabama, and Dareus spent part of Buffalo’s bye week off dusting up on his tackle technique at his alma mater.
He was driven after vowing to make an immediate impact shortly after being drafted third overall. And Dareus was growing tired of hearing questions about the defense’s poor start.
“I kind of had a heart-to-heart with the D-line to start cracking down on it altogether,” Dareus said. “We went out there, we prepared well, and handled business.”
Dareus wasn’t the only one in a jovial mood in what was an upbeat locker room on Monday.
Many were getting a big kick out of a picture receiver Stevie Johnson posted on his Twitter account of him dressed up as Gailey for Halloween. Johnson had on the sleeveless vest the coach prefers, and wore a pair of beige slacks that were perfectly creased — “Gailey fresh” as the player called it.
Gailey acknowledged he’s heard about the picture, but not yet seen it. With a half-smile, he suggested Johnson might have too much time on his hands.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick loved it.
“Somehow, I don’t know how Stevie makes every outfit he wears look cool,” Fitzpatrick said. “Not to say that Chan doesn’t look cool, but that vest, Stevie made it look cool.”