A little more than 10 months after an ACL tear cut short his season, Von Miller feels ready to return to the field.
The Buffalo Bills edge rusher was cleared to return to practice this week after starting the season on the PUP list while recovering from his injury suffered in last season’s Thanksgiving Day win over the Detroit Lions.
Miller predicted this week that he could hit the field for the team’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on October 8.
“I don’t know if the fans can expect to see me yet, but if I was a betting man I would say yeah, you can expect to see Von Miller in London,” Miller said in his podcast The Von Cast on October 3, via B/R Gridiron.
Von Miller Sets Expectations
Miller would not say definitively whether he might play on Sunday, saying he still needs to practice and see how he feels with pads on.
“It’s still not a promise that I play in this game,” Miller said. “I want to play in this game. I gotta practice tomorrow and I only get one padded practice. So obviously I got out there and I [need to] look amazing with this padded practice. Cause the difference is, like in training camp, you get multiple padded practices to kinda like figure your game out. I just get one padded practice tomorrow and then we have a shells practice on Thursday and then we fly to London on Thursday night.”
“If I was a betting man I’d say you’ll see Von Miller in London.” 👀
Von wants to play against the Jaguars but needs to see how padded practice goes
With the Bills facing long travel and a short week, Miller tempered expectations, saying there might not be enough time for him to determine whether he’s feeling good enough to play against the Jaguars.
“I really don’t have all the time in the world to like figure it out,” Miller said. “I get one padded practice. So hopefully I look amazing tomorrow. I feel really strongly that I will. That’s just how I think I feel like I will be amazing tomorrow and everybody will give me the green light to go play in the game.”
Bills Defense Rolling Without Miller
The Bills have not missed Miller much this season, ranking second in the NFL in allowing just 13.75 points per game so far. The Bills have generated a league-best 16 sacks for far, with free-agent acquisition Leonard Floyd making 3.5 sacks.
Floyd, Miller’s former teammate with the Los Angeles Rams who joined the Bills this offseason, has also taken over as a veteran leader, helping the team’s younger pass rushers.
“Very similar (to Miller),” defensive end A.J. Epenesa told the Buffalo News. “Von is one of the best to ever do it and he’s perfected his craft and the art of pass rushing and is obviously a huge help in answering any kind of question. The same thing with Flo. He’s been around a time or two and had success in this league.”
The Bills did suffer a major loss on defense, with All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White suffering a season-ending Achilles tear in the team’s win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
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Bills’ Von Miller Makes Bold Prediction About His Return to the Field