Just Gonna Say It: Von Miller was very good, but not great this year.

[TH3]

7 hours ago, wppete said:

Huge lose but Rousseau has to step

up. Let’s see if he is for real or just another average player. 

What do people mean “step up”?   So is he thinking …”Been cruising at 80 percent…..time to really start trying”?

8 hours ago, ChicagoRic said:

Yes, the cap hit will suck, but it's not like the Bills lost Nick Bosa or Matthew Judon.

 

He was playing at a Jerry Hughes level.  A great player, but on the downward slope of his career. 

 

This is survivable and I don't think it hurts the Bills Superbowl chances much if at all.

 

Now excuse me while I pull my on flame resistant suit. 

 

There are 4-6 more important starters on D than VM

[Max Fischer]

You didn’t have to say anything and saved yourself the embarrassment. 
 

How many “very good” available DEs in the league, how many DEs are as good as Von Miller this year, and how many are as good on this current roster?   How many Bills DE force opponents to change their scheme?
 

If the Bills improve in other areas (CB, run game, WR2, etc) I do believe this team still has a very good chance to win the SB. But there is no doubt the Bills are much better with Miller on the team and he’s been worth every penny. 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Max Fischer

[Livinginthepast]

My mind has been all over the place on this topic in the past 12 hours. I think the OP is partially correct about Von's actual play impact (to a point) but misses the psychological impact of the injury and Miller not being there. That to me is the biggest part of this. The rest of the team seemed to feed off Von's positivity, calm and leadership under pressure. I really hope that the team can not only survive this but that we see other players step up and just do what they need to do going forward. It would be easy to let this be a devastating gut punch in a season that has had a few of them but now I hope we can see them come together. Time to focus and finish the job this year, no excuses.

[Bkelly]

McBean said in the presser that as soon as he can travel, Miller will be on the sideline for games. I'm guessing he'll be coaching up the boys to play like the grown men that they are. He will be missed on the field but don't underestimate his ability to continue to teach Groot, AJ, Boogie, etc.

[ProcessTruster]

6 hours ago, Ya Digg? said:

Oh my god after all of the Tre White bashing this year, can you imagine how much hate Von will get on here if he doesn’t play until next Christmas???

 

Although it is weird how much all of the haters have quieted down about Tre since he started playing…weird 

Bills have managed Tre brilliantly.  The proof is on the field.   Fans don't know what they are talking about.   

 

I was a pretty good athlete a long time ago, had an MCL tear (only) and man , you are down for awhile and need to completely rehab and get past complete knee instability/pain ... can't imagine what MCL plus ACL tear will take to recover from.   Maybe as an edge rusher since you are the agressor, (vs Tre who must react to everything) Von can be effective on the field earlier.  Hope so.

[No_Matter_What]

8 hours ago, ChicagoRic said:

Yes, the cap hit will suck, but it's not like the Bills lost Nick Bosa or Matthew Judon.

 

He was playing at a Jerry Hughes level.  A great player, but on the downward slope of his career. 

 

This is survivable and I don't think it hurts the Bills Superbowl chances much if at all.

 

Now excuse me while I pull my on flame resistant suit. 

 

 

I appreciate the effort but you are just wrong. He was playing very good overall, but the point is that we got him to close games in PO, esp. against Chiefs.

 

We played them already and he delivered. He stopped or was major reason we stopped at least 3 Chiefs drives in the 2nd half, including the last one.

 

He'll be missed big time.

 

1 hour ago, John from Riverside said:

There is no way to put lipstick on this pig losing Von Miller hurts
 

my hope is that Greg Rousseau takes up the slack

 

Thing is that it doesn't help to replace Miller. If Rousseau plays great, then fine, we have one great DE. But if Miller was on the field, we would have two.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

We would’ve been much improved on the DL keeping Hughes and adding Jones, Phillips, and Lawson.

 

But we signed Miller for the playoffs. That’s the frustrating part of the injury. Now we need someone to step up that can at least be as good as Hughes was for us. Shaq Lawson is the guy. He’s got to step up opposite Rousseau.

 

[strive_for_five_guy]

Jerry Hughes had sack totals of 4.5, 4.5, and 2 his last three years with us.  Von had 8 sacks in 10.5 games here this year, well on pace to surpass Jerry’s 3 year sack total by the end of this season….

[Franco_92]

6 hours ago, Ya Digg? said:

Oh my god after all of the Tre White bashing this year, can you imagine how much hate Von will get on here if he doesn’t play until next Christmas???

 

Although it is weird how much all of the haters have quieted down about Tre since he started playing…weird 

Having just gone through the experience of seeing his impact and knowing it won't be there in the playoffs against mahomes, I'm almost HOPING he doesn't play until next Christmas. I just want him healthy in January. 

[Ya Digg?]

2 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

Yes because, well, you know HE'S PLAYING.

 

Finally. 

 

Von Miller is going to cost a huge amount of cap for literally no impact next year (and the rest of this year),  much like Tre did this year. But unlike Tre, he's ancient. 

 

That's cap dollars that could be invested in OL or WR that's just going to be laying on a training table. Harsh, but true. It was a great idea but a REALLY bad contract by Beane.

 

Dude you’re justifying some of the terrible takes YOU in particular and others had about Tre-questioning his loyalty, toughness, all that crap. Where is all of this anger towards him now that he’s playing? Or do you admit what you and others were saying was just absolutely terrible? Are you going to say the same things about Von next year? 

[GolfandBills]

8 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Reggie White was dominating in his late 30's. This is a tough blow but like Tre, Von Miller will heal and be ready to contribute by late Oct or Nov. He's got 5 more years on his contract. He'll be back and have an impact. 

It’s more like 1 or 2 more years realistically but who’s counting 

8 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Reggie White was dominating in his late 30's. This is a tough blow but like Tre, Von Miller will heal and be ready to contribute by late Oct or Nov. He's got 5 more years on his contract. He'll be back and have an impact. 

It’s more like 1 or 2 more years realistically but who’s counting 

8 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Reggie White was dominating in his late 30's. This is a tough blow but like Tre, Von Miller will heal and be ready to contribute by late Oct or Nov. He's got 5 more years on his contract. He'll be back and have an impact. 

It’s more like 1 or 2 more years realistically but who’s counting 

[Greg S]

1 hour ago, John from Riverside said:

There is no way to put lipstick on this pig losing Von Miller hurts
 

my hope is that Greg Rousseau takes up the slack

 

Oliver from the interior line as well. He was a beast against the Lions when Von got hurt. He's a vet who will be counted on to pick up the slack. 

[LeGOATski]

Von was the exact kind of finisher they needed for the playoffs. The whole reason they brought him to Buffalo was for the playoffs. He already showed what he could do in big games this year. 

 

This thread is stupid.

[Warriorspikes51]

Von was the difference against the Chiefs.  He wrecked the game in the 4th with 2 sacks in critical moments.  If he was on this team last year, 13 seconds never happens 

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Warriorspikes51

[Lane Meyer K12]

It is a big loss. Now teams do not have to plan for him. Just having him there as a threat to make a play is worth its weight. Someone will have to step up and fill the void. The pass rush overall has taken a hit. 

[mjt328]

9 hours ago, KzooMike said:

Von was never meant for the regular season. He can and will turn it on as he see's fit. He's smart like that because he still has enough in the tank to dominate any play, but he can't do it for a whole game. One thing I can say for sure is if it's 4th down and we are in the Super Bowl and we need one stop to win it, he's the most important player on the team in that moment. 

 

This.  

Much of Von Miller's current game is setting-up blockers for later in the game, and saving his best moves for the right moment.

 

At his age, we really shouldn't have expected 15-20 sacks or weekly dominance.  What we saw in the Chiefs game was exactly why he was signed.  There were 2-3 moments that we absolutely needed a play from the defense, and each time he got right past the OT and was right in Patrick Mahomes face.  That was totally missing in the AFC Divisional Playoff.

 

No way around the truth.  This is another crushing injury to a team, that has suffered way too many this season.  That doesn't mean the Bills are doomed.  But it does mean we need players like Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa and Boogie Basham to start living up to their draft status.  No more gradual development.  Because if we aren't getting regular pressure from the D-Line in the playoffs, some of these teams are going to give us lots of trouble.

 

[gordong]

I problem as I see it, anyone can post here....   

 

 

 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

He makes everyone around him better. You'll see. 

HUGE loss, and he had 8 sacks, a few of them at very opportunistic times. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

59 minutes ago, Ya Digg? said:

Dude you’re justifying some of the terrible takes YOU in particular and others had about Tre-questioning his loyalty, toughness, all that crap. Where is all of this anger towards him now that he’s playing? Or do you admit what you and others were saying was just absolutely terrible? Are you going to say the same things about Von next year? 

You've got me mistaken for someone else.

 

I asked WHY tre continued to be out for as long as he was after he was activated, but i don't think he was particularly malicious.

 

I thought signing Von for the dollars Beane did was a mistake when he signed him. Now that he's hurt, I like it less.

 

[BillsFanSD]

The last few years have convinced me that the biggest division among humans isn't Republican vs. Democrat or urban vs. rural or religious vs. secular, but people who mark their beliefs to empirical reality and people who don't.  If you think that losing Von Miller is roughly the equivalent of losing Jerry Hughes, you're just wrong.  I don't whether it's because you're new to football, or if it's because you're addicted to wishful thinking or what, but you're objectively mistaken. 

 

Miller is a first-ballot HOFer who offensive coordinators had to account for every time he was on the field.  His presence made everybody around him better.  Now, it's not like Oliver and Groot suck or anything -- they're very good! -- but there are increasing returns to scale on pass rushers, and losing our best one is going to have an outsized effect on the overall performance of our D-line.