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What Hall of Fame pass-rusher Bruce Smith said about Bills DE Von Miller

Hall of Fame defender Bruce Smith recently spoke about the impact that Von Miller has had on the Buffalo Bills.

Kyle Silagyi

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Several prolific pass rushers have suited up for the Buffalo Bills throughout the team’s 65-year history, with Cornelius Bennett and Mario Williams sticking out on a list that features no shortage of marquee names. No defender in Buffalo history was more successful at getting after opposing quarterbacks than Bruce Smith, however, as he tallied 171 sacks throughout his 15-year stint in Orchard Park before ultimately retiring with an NFL-record 200 quarterback takedowns.

Smith was a pivotal contributor on a Bills team that appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s, a feat no team in football has since replicated. Buffalo itself has not returned to the Super Bowl since that time, but it attempted to position itself to do so with its 2022 signing of defensive end Von Miller; fresh off a heartbreaking postseason loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in which the team thought a premier pass-rusher would have made the difference, the Bills signed the NFL’s active all-time sack leader to a six-year mega deal, a move they hoped would get them over the proverbial hump and propel them to glory.

Related: Legendary Bills DE Bruce Smith makes bold claim about Josh Allen after win vs. Chiefs

Miller’s Western New York tenure hasn’t gone exactly as planned thus far, as a bevy of circumstances (a 2022 ACL tear and 2024 suspension among them) have limited him to just 30 games through parts of three seasons. He’s been uber-impactful at times while being a non-factor at others, but the 35-year-old has shown flashes of the Miller of old throughout the 2024 campaign, notching four sacks and 17 pressures through seven games.

He played some of his best football in recent weeks in Buffalo’s Week 11 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, recording his first sack since Week 3 in what was the team’s biggest game of the season thus far. It’s his ability to shine when the lights are brightest that, per Smith, initially made Miller an attractive option for the Bills, with the impact he’s made on Buffalo’s young pass rushers thus far being an added bonus.

Von Mille
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“That’s why Von Miller was brought to the team,” Smith said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports. “He’s got the experience, he’s got the knowledge, he understands the moment. His role in making sure that he’s conveying that moment to all of the players that are there, because there are a number of players that are much younger than he is. His ability to be able to make those big plays in third-down situations or long-yardage situations is exactly why Sean McDermott and Brandon [Beane] brought him to the Buffalo Bills. 

“I know I was a part of those conversations, and we needed that guy that could make those plays at any given moment. When you put him in the mix with some of our current younger players who are turning out to be stars in their own right, I think it’s a perfect mixture, and the defensive line is playing extremely well and Marcus [West], the defensive line coach, is doing a very good job.”

The young defenders whom Smith refers to as “stars in their own right” are likely Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, who have tallied 5.5 and five sacks thus far this year, respectively. Certainly in the twilight of his career, it’s the lessons and information that Buffalo’s younger pass-rushers are gleaning from Miller at this moment that may end up being the veteran’s most lasting contribution to the organization; the fact that he’s able to pressure opposing quarterbacks in the interim isn’t something to be overlooked, either.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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