Bills DC says Von Miller showed ‘flashes’ of former dominance late in 2023 season

There was not real parade when news broke in March 2022 that the Buffalo Bills were close to signing veteran passer Von Miller, but the palpable excitement the signing generated in the area suggested such a signing was coming.

The team was fresh off a heartbreaking AFC Divisional Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, a contest in which they led with just 13 ticks remaining. The presence of an elite passer with a demonstrated ability to make plays in crucial moments might have made the difference; by signing the NFL’s all-time sack leader, many fans thought the difference was made.

The signing paid immediate dividends for Buffalo, as Miller looked every bit his consistently dominant self throughout the start of the 2022 campaign. He collected eight sacks through the team’s first 10 games, making big plays in early regular season wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.

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He was the elite passer, the closer, the difference makerthat he had been signed, and the Bills looked poised to be a playoff contender again.

And then disaster struck.

Miller tore his ACL during a Thanksgiving victory over the Detroit Lions, missing the remainder of the season and the first four games of the 2023 campaign. He was a shell of himself upon his return, failing to making a consistent impact as a passer while often looking unusually out of place. He finished the season with just three tackles and zero sacks, scoring a career-low total of 17 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

Expectations for Miller’s 2024 season are mixed; There is a few I hope he can recapture some of his former glory and be more like the destructive passer the Bills originally signed, but at 35 years old, it’s hard to be too optimistic that he’ll be anything other than ‘a rotating pass rusher with a solid resume.

New Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich believes the future Hall of Famer still has something to tank. After spending two years as Buffalo’s linebackers coach during which he focused primarily on that position, Babich had the opportunity to watch film with a greater focus on the overall defense throughout. throughout the spring, concluding that Miller had flashed last year.

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“There were a few plays in there where you were like, ‘Okay, I see Von,'” Babich told reporters before an OTA practice Tuesday at One Bills Drive. “Von was obviously, (it’s) documented, banged up, he had the ACL that he was coming back from and all that kind of stuff. When you’re sitting in the defensive coordinator’s seat coming from the linebackers, you’re paying attention to the D line, like you’re watching tape, but you’re really focused on your position, right?

“But what I saw was there were flashes of Von Miller at the end of the year. Von is working hard to come back. Von is a great person and we expect that, minute by minute we continued to improve and hone the skills and train the skills that are necessary for him to impact the game the way we need him to.”

With Greg Rousseau and AJ Epenesa above him on the depth chart, Buffalo doesn’t need Miller to reach his former heights (although he certainly wouldn’t mind). If he can instead be an effective defender – a reliable passer who sometimes shows good sense as a passer –that would probably be enough. This would at least be an improvement over last season.