The Buffalo Bills land a premiere pass rusher in free agency. It’s Miller time for the Bills Mafia as in Von Miller. I know Von Miller did not invent the strip sack, but he sure has mastered it. Miller, 32 years old, signs a six year deal to come to Buffalo at a hefty price of 120 million. Miller has plenty of tread left on the tires as the lifetime Bronco was traded during the last season to the LA Rams. Miller responded with 31 tackles and 5 sacks in 8 games of regular season in LA. In the playoffs, Miller played at an even higher level as he had 4 sacks in 4 games & one of them was Bills old nemesis Tom Brady. Last time the Bills had this kind of presence, a one man wrecking machine, you’d have to go back to the 1990’s with Buffalo legend Bruce Smith.

The last time the Buffalo Bills had a guy on their defense that had double digits in sacks in one season, was in 2016 with Lorenzo Alexander. Sean McDermott’s defenses over the last few years have been stout and last season was one of the top units in the league. Bills were also able to get pressure on the quarterbacks but bringing them down was a different story. In the playoffs during the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, how many times did Patrick Mahomes look like a magician in the pocket collapsing from all directions and just vanish? Then you see Mahomes running down the field getting chunks of yards. When the Bills were able to be the King of the AFC in the 1990’s, they had Bruce Smith who destroyed quarterbacks. Those great 1990 Bills teams that went to 4 straight Superbowls. Smith had 19 sacks in the 1990 season. In 1992 and ’93 Smith had racked up 14 sacks each of those seasons. We all know Bruce Smith is the sack king with 200 quarterback heads in 279 NFL games. Smith had 171 in a Buffalo uniform.

Von Miller has played in 150 games in ten regular seasons in the NFL mostly with the Broncos until last season after he was traded to the Rams. In 15 games last season Miller had 9.5 sacks and has 115.5 to his credit during regular season play. In 2016 Miller was MVP of Superbowl 50 where he exposed Cam Newton for how soft he was when Broncos beat the Panthers. Miller now has two Superbowl rings with two different teams, his second being a rental for the Rams. Can Miller get the Bills one? Last two seasons Bills playoffs hopes have fallen to the Kansas City Chiefs. Look at how the Bengals were able to when they brought Patrick Mahomes down to the turf in the AFC Championship game. Advance to the Superbowl. This is a move by the Bills not only to get through the AFC but to win it. The Bills have a talented roster up and down on both sides of the ball. Offense has Josh Allen & now the defense has its name… Miller. The Bills failed to win four straight Superbowls with Jim Kelly, a Hall of Fame quarterback and the King of sacks, another Hall of Famer in Bruce Smith. Josh Allen is a different animal than Jim Kelly and has not gotten the team there yet. It took Kelly a few seasons to get the Bills to their first Superbowl. Bruce Smith obviously went 0-4 in all those Superbowls. Von Miller is two for two in the Superbowls when he is on the field. If the Bills can bring back Jerry Hughes somehow, I would feel even that much better. Bills mafia I bet this St. Patrick’s day are going to enjoying Miller Time in more ways than one.