Bills pass rusher Von Miller is healthy. Now comes the 'challenge': playing like young Von Miller
“I'm feeling good. I haven't felt like this in two years,” Miller said. “Just to be able to come out here and just run around and not have to wear a knee brace, and not have to do rehab all day and night in my offseason, just committed to getting healthy is a joy in itself.”
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Von Miller is rather set in his ways, and his ways lean heavily optimistic. He knows, however, that there can be a catch to that.
“I think my optimistic mindset has won for me, at times, and it’s lost for me, at times,” Miller said Thursday at St. John Fisher University. “But I don’t know any other way to think. I don’t know any other way to view things but the best way and the best possible scenario.”
The Bills’ Von Miller talks with a teammate after Day 2 of training camp Thursday in Pittsford. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
After Miller suffered a right knee injury on Thanksgiving 2022, he first said he would be back that season. When he went on injured reserve, he said he’d be back in the playoffs. When that didn’t happen, he said he’d be back for Week 1 of 2023. By training camp last year, his goal was between Week 1 and Week 6.
The goalposts kept changing. He eventually returned Week 5, but he was held sackless throughout the season.
Then, in an offseason interview with Sports Illustrated, Miller said that he “shouldn’t have been out there” last year, at all.
If the two ideas seem directly opposed, let Miller explain. He starts by standing by his initially optimistic outlook.
“So going back to last year, I would probably go about it the same way. I’m not the type of guy to come out here and say, `Hey, you know, my knee’s – it’s all right. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to start the season.’ I don’t like to live on those terms on or off the football field,” Miller said.
“If I had to go at it again, I would probably have the same type of verbiage and the same type of mindset. It’s just the way I view life on and off the football field,” he added.
That said, Miller, 35, didn’t want to miss time, but he wasn’t the player he knows he can be. He had three tackles in 12 games.
“That’s probably what should have happened, but I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to be out there to play,” Miller said Thursday on sitting out the season. “If I was 50%, like, nobody was going to stop me from going out there. But the truth – just being honest with you guys – is my knee wasn’t at a place where I could go and I could move and I could do the things that I wanted to do.
“I mean, I could play, but that was just about it.”
Now, Miller’s not even thinking about his knee anymore. He feels refreshed.
“I’m feeling good. I haven’t felt like this in two years,” Miller said. “Just to be able to come out here and just run around and not have to wear a knee brace, and not have to do rehab all day and night in my offseason, just committed to getting healthy is a joy in itself.”
Coaches from Sean McDermott to defensive coordinator Bobby Babich have said they saw flashes of what Miller could be toward the end of last season. They believe he can continue to build on that.
“I’m excited for Von,” McDermott said Wednesday. “Coming off of an ACL, as long as I’ve been around this game, is not easy. I don’t care who you are. And, there’s been some variation in some guys coming back faster than others. But usually, it’s in that second season where they recapture – the athletes (are) able to recapture their form.
“And that’s going to be a challenge. But that’s what Von’s here to do.”
In the Bills’ divisional playoff loss to Kansas City, Miller finally felt that he had arrived. He had a pair of tackles, one on a running play and one on a passing play.
“Even though we lost, I felt good about the way I played,” Miller said. “I felt good from the starting point that I would have coming into this season.”
Miller said he thinks he can still draw on some things from last season – less tangible things. Given that the year didn’t go how he wanted, but also given his belief that everything happens for a reason, Miller was forced to change his perspective in a few ways.
“I learned you can’t force things,” Miller said. “And I think, as a football player in my whole entire life, you just try to make things happen. And, at times, it’s been great for me. But, at times, like last year, it just wasn’t working for me.
“And I learned patience. I learned that life is bigger than football.”
Bills' Von Miller eager to reestablish himself as top pass-rusher after no-sack season
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