Q&A: Buffalo Bills LB Von Miller surprised by Broncos' slow start, says Denver's season isn't over
Before Von Miller and the Buffalo Bills took the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5, the Super Bowl 50 MVP set up a camera in his home to preview the matchup in a vlog.
His words in the video were more respectful than the 38-3 beatdown Buffalo eventually dealt the Steelers.
In a year of change for Miller — on his third team since last October — filming YouTube videos has been a constant. His channel has over 38,000 subscribers, and now he's bringing his content to the Bleacher Report app every Tuesday with a live stream called "Bleacher Report's The Voncast."
For The Win caught up with Miller to discuss "The Voncast," Super Bowl expectations for the Bills and the Denver Broncos.
(This interview has been condensed and edited)
What do you say to people who take issue with players creating content during the season?
Von Miller: "I think it’s all in the player. And nobody on the outside world can tell you what is a distraction. You have to be able to identify that yourself. And if it’s not a distraction, if you can get it done, I don’t see a problem. I’m always in front of a computer, whether that’s podcasts or playing video games. Especially here in Buffalo, I don’t have anything else to do. I play golf and I get on the computer. I either stream podcasts or play video games. So like I said before, it’s just the experience that I’m really really comfortable in. My life is already in this area as well, especially here in Buffalo with the weather and everything. So why not take advantage of it?
"I’ve been streaming and I’ve been on the podcast wave for about two years on Twitch and pretty much anything to do with streaming and broadcasting online. I haven’t been playing video games my whole life, but at this point, you don’t even have to be good at video games or anything like that to have your own platform.
"I think the 'Voncast' was the next evolution. It’s a space where I feel comfortable. And I’ve been doing this for about two years, just getting up there and talking to my buddies around the league. It’s not tough at all. And each episode I interview a new NFL player and I give the fans a different perspective about their favorite players off the field."
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How surprised are you about your former team's (the Denver Broncos) current form?
VM: "I’m surprised. But at the same time, it’s not the first time that I’ve seen it before. In 2012, we started the season off 2-3, and we’re going into Week 6 Monday Night Football versus the Chargers. And we get down to halftime 24-0. Then that second half we rally off five touchdowns straight. We got two defensive touchdowns and they scored three on offense, and the Chargers didn’t score at all. So that took us from 2-3 to 3-3. Then after that game we won 10 games straight. So, I say all that to say this, that it ain’t never over. It’s still taking time for these boys to gel and get to know each other and everything else going on.
"I honestly feel like that was the best team we had in Denver, better than the 2015 team (that won a Super Bowl). We ended up losing to the Ravens in the divisional round, the mile-high miracle. But that team was the best team we had, and it just takes a little bit. That was six weeks that it took us to get things going. So, very similar to what the Broncos are going through right now.
As the active all-time sack leader, how aware are you of those titles?
VM: "That’s really all it is — awareness. You can only control what you can control. And I think the most important thing for me is just winning football games and winning Super Bowls, because that is my ultimate goal. If you get sacks along the way, cool. I just want to win football games and get sacks here and there. That’s where my focus is. My focus really goes to my teammates and their mindset going into these games."
Which quarterback do you want to tackle that you haven't yet?
VM: "I want to sack them all. That’s just where I want to be. That’s my job. Nothing feels better than doing your job for your teammates at a high level. So I want to sack them all. It doesn’t matter if it’s Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady. I’m not picky. I just want to go in there and do my job."
Is the weight of being a Super Bowl favorite tangible in Buffalo?
VM: "No. Not really. I think odds and betting, they make the game more interesting. But for me, I really don’t pay attention to it. I’ve been on teams where we’re supposed to lose and we go out there and win. And I’ve been on teams where we’re supposed to win and we go out there and lose."
Does a team need a specific mindset in order to win a Super Bowl?
VM: "It’s different each and every week. We’re humans, so the consistency part of it is you come in and come out. But for the most part, I think mindset separates good teams from other good teams, and good players from other great players. And that mindset that you go in with that day, I feel like it matters. The approach that we have with the Buffalo Bills is — me personally and us as a team — we try to do as much as possible during the week to have peace into the game from a preparation standpoint to a recovery standpoint. From a mental standpoint."
How do you approach games against rookie quarterbacks?
VM: "I go in licking my chops. It don’t matter if it’s a rookie or not. That’s just my mindset. At the same time, these rookies are crazy these days. You really don’t know what to expect.
"We got Patrick Mahomes his rookie season and Justin Herbert, you got all these guys that just pop off each and every year. And I don’t want to be the team that really opens the floodgates for any of these guys. So I don’t like to treat guys like rookies. I don’t like to call guys rookies. And I definitely don’t drop my guard because they’re a rookie. If anything, they don’t know no better, and they’re just gonna go out here and be slinging the ball around. So they honestly have a better chance of success because they’re not scared enough yet."