The Bills signed edge rusher Von Miller with the idea that he would be their closer in the postseason — the piece that could help the club get over the top to reach Super Bowl LVII.
But that was not able to come to fruition, as Miller tore his ACL during Buffalo’s Thanksgiving Day victory over Detroit.
Now that the Bills have been eliminated from the postseason, Miller — who signed a six-year contract with Buffalo last March — said he’s looking forward to running it back with his coaches and teammates in 2023.
“My message to the guys was, as competitors, whenever you lose, you go back to the drawing board and you say, ‘Oh I’ve gotta make some changes, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that, I’ve got to work harder,’” Miller said in his press conference. “You should always debrief. But I honestly feel like we’re in a unique spot. We’ve got a great football team. We’ve got great coaches. We’ve got great staff, great players. Sometimes, more isn’t always the answer. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep playing. Sometimes you’ve got to line back up, give us another year, and just go through it again.
“We lost four games — we lost four games this whole entire year. Four games out of the 19 games that we played? And we lost four of those games. We had a great season. We had a great year.”
Miller added that he signed with the Bills to have multiple shots at winning a Super Bowl and he thinks Buffalo is still fully capable of accomplishing that goal.
“Just because we lost to the Bengals, it doesn’t diminish the type of team that we know we have. It doesn’t diminish our team in this league,” Miller said. “We have a really good team. Our window is still open and brighter days are definitely ahead for us.”
Miller was a difference-maker on defense when he was healthy. He had 8.0 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 12 quarterback hits for Buffalo. He also recorded a pair of passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Miller has a significant road to recovery ahead with the second ACL tear of his career. He previously went through the process in 2013 entering the 2014 season.
He noted he’s six weeks from his surgery and he’s walking around and working out. But he’ll need another six-to-seven weeks to start running. But his recovery is likely going to take around nine months, though Miller said he’s hopeful he can shorten that window to six or seven months.
