In March, barely a month after he helped the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl, a tough old linebacker named Von Miller surprised much of the football world by announcing that he was going to sign with the Buffalo Bills. Miller, a veteran of 10 NFL seasons, was about to turn 33, but the Bills were giving him a younger man’s contract: six years, $120m.
“Is 40 open?” he said that day on Twitter, referring to his preferred jersey number. It was.
Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as elusive and prolific as ever, saw Miller’s No 40 a lot Sunday in a stirring 24-20 Buffalo victory that established the Bills (5-1) as the team to beat in the AFC, if not the entire NFL. Miller sacked Mahomes twice — one on a spin-a-rama — and fought off a double-team that forced Mahomes into throwing a game-sealing interception.
But the Bills had Allen last January, when Mahomes outdueled him in one of the greatest playoff games in history. What the Bills did not have then was a defensive playmaker like Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowler. In the final minute of regulation and overtime in that game, Mahomes threw two touchdown passes and led the Chiefs on a frantic, 13-second drive for a field goal at the end of regulation that extended the game. The difference this Sunday, quite literally, was Vonnie B’Vsean Miller.
Down 24-20 on Sunday, Kansas City picked up a first down at their own 30-yard line with 56 seconds to play when Buffalo cornerback Siran Neal was penalised for holding on an incomplete pass. Bills Mafia members surely thought (to themselves): Uh-oh. Here we go, again. But on the next play, Miller slipped past Kansas City tackle Andrew Wylie — whom Miller had beaten for both his sacks earlier in the game.
Chiefs guard Trey Smith slid over to get in Miller’s way, at the very least. But Miller had almost got by then to Mahomes, who double-pumped, then threw in a hurry to rookie receiver Skyy Moore. Buffalo’s Taron Johnson stepped in front of Moore and picked off the pass.
It was the Bills’ 13th takeaway of the season, the best in the league.
It was not as if the Bills shut down Mahomes: He finished with 338 yards passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He completed five of six passes in a drive that ended with a field goal that enabled Kansas City to take a 20-17 lead. But on the previous play, Mahomes had scrambled for only three yards on a third-and-13. Guess who made the tackle.
“Whether or not he was actually sacking Mahomes, he was affecting him ... He was phenomenal,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said after the game of Miller.
Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier already had put together a largely effective unit, but the Bills now have something extra. A little over a year ago, they beat Kansas City on the road in the regular season, only to lose a much bigger game to the Chiefs when it mattered more. This year, the Bills have a veteran linebacker wearing No 40, hoping to lead another team to the biggest game of them all.
Co-MVPs of the week
Quinnen and Quincy Williams, defensive tackle and linebacker, New York Jets. The brothers from Birmingham, Alabama, are part of the marauding Jets — yes, we can really say marauding — who matched their victory total from last season (four) with a 27-10 pasting of Green Bay. Quinnen, a first-round draft pick in 2019 for the Jets, had two sacks, two tackles for a loss and also blocked a field goal. Quincy, the older brother by two years, had 14 tackles. Quinnen also had three of the nine Jets’ hits on Aaron Rodgers, who was sacked four times and looked older than 38 on a rainy day at Lambeau Field.
Video of the week
Those TV cameras suspended over the field at NFL games rarely provide shots that actually give viewers vertigo, but the overhead cam at MetLife Stadium caught every swerve in the pinballing 47-yard kickoff return by Gary Brightwell of the New York Giants. Brightwell broke three tackles in his return, which followed a Baltimore touchdown, and led to a Giants’ touchdown during their 24-20 win over the Ravens.
Stat of the week
New England’s 38-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns was the 324th in Bill Belichick’s NFL coaching career, tying him with the legendary late Papa Bear himself, George Halas. Rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns for the Patriots (3-3). Next up for Belichick, who won 36 games as the Browns’ coach from 1991-95: Don Shula, with 347. If he passes Shula, Belichick will have the most-ever.
Quote of the week
“You’re so much better than the way you’re f**king playing” — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady to his offensive line.
Brady helpfully pointed this out shortly before halftime against Pittsburgh, but the second half did not go much better for quarterback, the line or the Bucs, who meekly lost to the Steelers, 20-18.
Brady marched the Bucs 73 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown that trimmed the Tampa Bay deficit to two points with 4 minutes 38 seconds remaining. But Brady’s two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.
The Legend of Brady called for one more Bucs’ possession. But the Steelers, who’d lost four straight before Sunday, kept the ball the rest of the game, with backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky completing two third-and-long passes and forcing the Bucs (3-3) to use their timeouts. — Guardian
