The Bills weren’t about to let Patrick Mahomes spoil another potential victorious comeback by Josh Allen.
And holding off the Chiefs after scoring a touchdown with 1:04 left in the marquee game of NFL Week 6 was a lot easier with Von Miller around to slam the door shut. The edge rusher was one of the biggest offseason acquisitions of 2022, and he delivered Sunday in the exact matchup for which he was signed.
Miller had two of Buffalo’s three sacks and consistently put disruptive pressure on Mahomes, down to forcing Mahomes into throwing the game-sealing interception in a surprisingly defensive-minded game.
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During his time with the Broncos, Miller had only 1.5 sacks in five healthy games against Mahomes. Denver lost all of them. He made up for that lost production in one massive afternoon.
Miller’s first sack made the Chiefs settle for a field-goal attempt. His second made the Chiefs punt. That made all the difference in the 24-20 final score.
“Whether or not he was actually sacking Mahomes, he was affecting him,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said of Miller after the game. “He was phenomenal.”
Before Mahomes arrived as the Chiefs’ starter, Miller was Super Bowl 50 MVP as the anchor of Denver’s dominant defense. He played at that level in last season’s playoffs with the Rams with four sacks in four games, including a pair that helped them win Super Bowl 56 over Joe Burrow’s Bengals.
It’s no wonder that McDermott wanted Miller so badly to add to coordinator Leslie Frazier’s pass rush. Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane obliged, having no problem luring the eight-time Pro Bowler away from “running it back” in Los Angeles with a six-year, $120 million contract with more than $51 million guaranteed.
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The Bills already had a deep pass rush. They considered the 33-year-old Miller to be an expensive, yet needed, closer.
Miller had played only 56.27 percent of the team’s 175 defensive snaps prior to the Chiefs game. The Bills knew that if they could keep his aging body fresh for critical situations, Miller could remain a game-wrecker. He’s now up to six sacks in six games for 5-1 Buffalo despite being a “part-time player.”
Miller has always been a bright-lights performer, often saving his best for the biggest games. That was true against the Bengals in the Super Bowl. That was true against the Rams in Week 1, when he set the tone for the Bills’ defense early with two sacks of Matthew Stafford.
In an offseason that was dominated by big-name quarterbacks and wide receivers changing teams in trades and free agency, Miller has proved to be the most valuable signing, even when weighing the Bills’ splurge. They followed the Rams’ lead and went all-in when they could. Their window to win the Super Bowl will never be this wide open in an era that also includes Mahomes and Burrow.
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Miller gave Peyton Manning his elusive second Super Bowl ring. He helped people believe that Stafford is a much better QB than he really is while also expediting a championship for Sean McVay. Now, Miller is helping the Bills twofold, having Allen’s back on the other side of the ball and flustering the rarely rattled Mahomes.
The Bills saw what Miller did for the Rams. In true league copycat fashion, they spared no expense in making sure he could do that for them, too. It didn’t take long for him to earn all of his contract. He has put himself in prime position to earn his third ring.
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