Why is VON Miller 'angry' and the Bills AGE is NOW a 'GOOD' thing

hey I think we got this thing figured out we have perfected the way to not interrupt Jenna [Music] right this is the Buffalo plus podcast brought to you by Connors and Ferris hey everyone and welcome back to the Buffalo plus podcast here on the Buffalo plus YouTube channel presented by Connors and Ferris Mike catalana I'm Dan Fates and Jenna catrell is on vacation Mia yeah she's with the family all together big week for her so we're very happy she's getting her time out this is her Super Bowl it is the Fourth of July is for the katol family is a massive deal in 1776 they thought it was a big deal the kols think right now it's a bigger deal Fourth of July for them yeah so for this podcast it's just going to be the two of us we're g to talk about Von Miller some of his comments that he made to si.com as I notes I got notes I did research we got notes because we're gonna talk about age and it's I'm going to limit the amount of jokes yes that that we can make so here's the thing we're looking yes comment subscribe subcribe yeah appreciate as always that's it we we would give Jenna a hard time for not delaying for that and then you didn't delay for the like comment subscribe Jenna is watching or listening to this right now and she's going they didn't say it they didn't say it right they didn't say it quick enough so yeah she will watch yeah she'll check up on us but you got notes I got notes cuz I saw a list and we'll get to it about um and there's been a lot of talk about the Bills roster obviously turnover yes leading into like say last year they had one of the older rosters in the NFL yes that's changed it's one thing about getting younger it's being younger and being good yes and Pro Football Focus had done list about you know the the separation of Ages a lot of the players and this is what we'll get into are in that mid-range yeah uh 26 27 28 it's how many quality players do you have 25 and under yeah and how many players do you have in your roster 30 and above is interesting and I think it tells a lot about where this team is right now so we'll go over that too yeah first I wanted to talk about and it was something yeah we ran in the newscast the sports cast things like that back here in Rochester just the fact of Von Miller making some comments and it it stood out to me for a few reasons one he's doing this article he does an interview and it's it's pretty much a transcript about sneakers and his fashion and glasses and his new line of you know eyewear and all of these things and the last question it's just a transcript I don't know if it was could have been done just over the phone things like that it's just a Q&A the last question is what are your biggest individual and team goals for the upcoming season and V kind of I think he went off and it's very confusing to me where Van took the question he talked about my biggest individual goals are coming back to playing my style of football and then it gets into it's crazy how you get injured and you come back and you really shouldn't have even been playing and people judge you by the product on the field I could have easily set out all of last season but I couldn't do my teammates like that I felt like being later in my career I didn't want to sacrifice any of my years but at the same time I should not have been out there that to me is Wild One V was one of the he was the one that told us I'll be back week one that he was going to have a 9mon recovery from his ACL he was the one saying that I want to play so bad and I want to be out there with my teammates and that the bills had to protect him from himself and he was very clear about those things all of a sudden now you shouldn't have been playing there's a lot to unpack there um first of all a lot of players you know get that sort of everybody's against me kind of mode I don't know where he was seeing the criticism but it could have been from almost any Source uh fans were critical of him media was critical of him I'm talking about him as play on the field as a player he did not perform anywhere close to what we've seen from Von Miller he came back and I remember us many times talking here about give the guy the benefit of the doubt here multiple times that when he kept talking about how quick he was going to recover we're like hey he's 34 years old coming off his second ACL like hang on here and I remember because the first game was the one in London it's like okay so he's going to be back there and he's gonna play and the beginning people are like I'm not seeing anything out of v and I'm thinking to myself okay give the guy a break we're not even at a year left yeah and then it got to that point then it went past that point and then they sat him for a game late in the year yeah yeah he didn't play I mean basically a healthy scratch correct so the expectations were for him to at least contribute I mean we're not talking about him being Von Miller we're talking about him being one of the I don't know six best pass rushers on the team for a game yeah and the team decided not to play him and and I know he was coming off an injury I know he's 34 but it's pretty revisionist history to be like maybe I shouldn't have even played because that never was the way he spoke that coming into it it wasn't like the media or us put words in his mouth of like oh he's going to recover faster we all thought when he went on pup that to start the year was like that's probably the smart move yeah you know it makes sense protect the guy all these things he was the one saying that he wants to get out there like I went back and searched my Twitter like how many times did Von say I'll be back I want to play I'm close all these things and now a year later you're saying I shouldn't have been out there he went on to say too this isn't me paraphrasing the interview I'm reading the the transcript of what the question was he said I feel like people are judging me on that so it's making me a little bit angry to be honest it's making me tap into that V that I haven't been in a while I just want to get back to playing my style of football getting back to talking making sacks dancing and making plays with my teammates that's been my whole mindset this this offseason all right so let's let's welcome in the El in the room I mean he was criticized by people by his play there's also a lot of people that weren't happy to even have him on the field after after the allegations U the arrest though the charges ended up not going through I still don't understand Texas law but there were people who felt differently about van at that and I do think that played into it but in this case specifically talking about football uh yes and you can always find a Critic I I mean any the greatest you know Pat Mahomes has people ripping him online like correct Josh Allen we know does correct like the best of the best do um but you could have found critics at any level media fans rational fans irrational fans hot take play he wasn't performing and then the team basically sat him down and I guess he said at the end he was a little better he maybe got close to making a few plays but we are talking about out for basically two-thirds of a season he was not impactful at all in the defense so yeah if he wants to use it as motivation have at it but you you have to expect that there's criticis they all find dumb ways to motivate yourself it's you know nobody believes in us when you're the Patriots or momes and all these things it it just is mind bogging to me to to have is tone deaf the right word it just not reading the room that people weren't necessarily mad at you because of rushing back or anything like that like they're mad because you didn't perform on the field which is any player you put yourself in the crossfires by V loves the media it's his 14th NFL season he'll remind us that many times but the fact is is that you didn't perform and now you went up there every Wednesday and talked about how he's how he feels better and how he feels great right and now after the fact the revisionist history with hindsight you're saying I shouldn't have even been out there yeah and look when I say a little bit of blinders that a player has his reputation in Buffalo changed now again he's not suspended there was no formal arrest all those things the contract changed in people's eyes like everything changed off the injury the performance afterwards and off the FIU it just added to it now listen the real world if Von was kicking butt and playing like Von Miller many people would just dismiss the other part go make plays so let's that's the reality but on the field forget everything else on the field he was not impactful to the point that they sat him down and didn't even play him as Von Miller so so listen that's the coaches that's the team saying you aren't one of the players to be active in a game and maybe he was a little better at the end but to sit there and just kind of say like he shouldn't have played that was never even considered I think it was it felt like it was closer to week one than it was for him to not play and again what also just blows my mind and again it's you maybe you have something built up as the offseason and and and we know how much V loves the media and things like that the first question is is about his collaboration with glassesusa.com and how it's been going on for two to three years the second question is is how important are glasses to your personal Style and what sneakers are you wearing off the field this season and then V goes to just say hey by the way I shouldn't have even played last year yeah I guess I don't know what the tone was and the way the interview was done it was just his one chance to actually talk football was the last question and he went down that road you know he does tend to like maybe you and I can sometimes he does tend to start to ramble a little bit where he'll just keep going it and I think that's where where he went he started talking about like yeah his goals and then he was like because his numbers were non-existent last year didn't have any he didn't have any didn't have a sack right so he didn't have that to play off of and that's going to be his mindset I don't really want to I don't want to hear that with us I mean I don't know who he was talking to but I don't want to hear I mean because that's that's just not accurate I don't think I don't think there was ever a point where the team was like he's not healthy we're going to sit him out he's going to go on IR for four weeks or whatever it is so he was never on the injury report nothing for tweaking his knee for anything yeah he he does finish I I will finish the question there's one last paragraph said the biggest team goal is bringing a the first Super Bowl to Buffalo Which F loves to say everyone feels like they deserve it and they work hard but Buffalo fans West New York they deserve it man they do such an amazing job for the community Josh Allen is an amazing player in person he's the most amazing person that I've ever been around in my life these guys deserve it and I'm do everything in my power to give it to them and that's very V that's on brand he he says those kind of things every time we talk to him like he goes from hey so like what are your goals for the year I actually I shouldn't have played last year by the way Josh Allen's an amazing person we're gonna win the superb I'm in my 14th year and the City of Buffalo deserves super it was just a weird again this is the I think Mike Florio calls it the the me time of the offseason this was a very me thing about Von Miller to to again I don't know we We've joked around about hey you know Spencer Brown had a you know had a back injury and Gabe Davis had an ankle injury V's like talking himself that like giving himself the yeah that he was injured when everybody knew he was injured it wasn't like we're sitting there going man what's bothering V yeah we knew that he had been recovering from an ACL we saw what happened with Trey White and the ACL like this isn't like the first time we've seen a player have to overcome all this but it was the off the- field issues it was the way that he spoke in the media that he was going to return to this form and that he's in a great mental head space and that there's no problems all of that encompassed into this weird weird interview with me listen I I think he's on this roster in large part because of the contract and I think they needed to keep him there I think his role this year will be pass rusher limited number of snaps I don't think they're counting on him for I think he's a I think he's pass rusher only am I wrong do you think that or do you think he's going to is he still a starting player on this team yes wow he's gonna have to show a lot more who's starting over him I don't know you have AJ Essa I mean they're gonna rotate but we talked this before Von last year AJ Essa was a better player than him by far and you got Greg rouso on the other side Puna for was a better player than he just he didn't he didn't do anything I think he's here because of the contract if the contract was different I think he would have been gone I don't know this was just one of those things and again obviously pro football talk and everybody kind of grabs the headline of Von Miller is upset because of the way that he people perceived him and his play and that he shouldn't have set out last year a lot of you commented on here during last year why is V out there is he doing anything that was nonstop and you weren't wrong no I mean we'd be at the games you be on the field it's like he was not impactful and I understand he's 34 coming off a knee 14th NFL season yes but to pretend like that it wasn't talked about beforeand and if it meant he needed three or four more weeks I think they would have just done it he would have sat more and then come back then maybe he did maybe it was too soon for him to come back not in the building not in the building we don't know I do know but we know what V told us I do know from people in the building listen I do think the guy works his butt off when he's getting healthy it's not about that but you can do that at his age and still not be back with the knee that tells you because you know it's a difficult thing to come back from especially at his age which is a perfect segue yes we're not going to talk about our ages no no need to I think I think we're good we're good I think we're good what you you were the one that brought up this topic and I'm just kind of curious of of what stood out to you or what piqued your interest about pff's article well it just was I think it was top 25 players 25 and under in the NFL and I'm looking on there I'm looking for a bill yeah and the one Bill's player pause the video right now comment in below right who you think PFF would have as the bills player under 25 in the top 25 are you back did you okay yeah wonder if they guessed I was 0 for four yeah I guessed James Cook right Dalton concade yep trell Bernard yeah it was Greg and Christian Benford yeah yes I guess all four of those it was Greg rouso and and again it's Pro Football Focus so they are numbers driven correct and Russo's numbers must have matched up for them and I think he's in there I mean I I will say this when I did this when I looked over the roster and and let me tell you I'm not counting the rookies right now because they're obviously the young players but they've never been on a field and played I mean it's you know we have like Keon we know but like he hasn't played so in terms of they obviously are under 25 yeah though I'm looking at it saying who are the players that are there so when you start to look at that list uh I'm encouraged at the list I think the moves that they made really got me excited about like you said moving in the right direction yeah with the youth with the younger players because you looked at last year they were one of the oldest teams in the league among the guys that are gone in their 30s so that was the other part like how's your roster over 30 um well let's start with this over 30 starters I will say starters corre yes yes yes Dion yep daquin yep and Von if Von is the starter correct and Von's the oldest player on the team so he's 35 daquan's 32 and Deon then there's other guys on the roster it's like like special teamers like Reed Sam Martin m h Austin Johnson dline Lyall Collins like that they brought in so they have other guys but the number last year puyer Hyde Diggs Morris Floyd all those guys and then uh dayquan was too and Von was too with those guys are all gone so they've they've shifted I mean they really have yeah and by the way in case you were wondering Trey's 29 I think he'll turn 30 this year Trey white so he wasn't on that list of and jine Edmond is still 22 he is he's a kid here's the guys 25 and under again not counting the rookies and I go in order by age but I think this is a pretty good list I agree I think this is something to be encouraged about because these are guys you're feeling like are going into their Prime yep Terell Bernard AJ epinesa Dalton concade khil Shakir James Cook Osiris Torrance Christian Benford Dorian Williams then you have Kier Elum who's was young obviously he's 23 and I wrote down here Keon because he's the number one pick he's 21 years old but I think that's a pretty good group I was thinking about it it's kind of like goldilock oh and Greg rouso yeah yeah who I already mentioned yeah goldilock and three little bears yeah like you you want to have enough youth right that you're excited about the future you want to have your core of players that are in their Prime and then you want to sprinkle in just enough veteran guys to to be that and yes maybe that's where you're right Mike maybe that is where Von Miller is right now maybe he is just that role player veteran he's not the pro bowler he's not the Von Miller from the first nine games before he tore his ACL where he was the closer that the bills paid him and hoped he would be which he was but now it's like that's like Dion I think is still playing at a very very high level yeah I'd argue dayquon is as well now again the end he's definitely got more football behind him than he does in front of him but still playing at a high level it's the fact of having all of that mix because like other guys obviously you have Josh at 27 28 I think maybe he's 28 now you know I was thinking of a guy like I was wondering how old Taran Johnson was I would guess Taran Johnson's probably 28 27 yeah the same birthday as my mom look at that so he's going to turn 28 yeah okay um listen In fairness to Von Miller at his age and what he's really good at I want him to have limited snaps yeah that's who he needs to be so I don't know if in this roster they really but honestly they paid AJ Essa they brought him back I think he can I think they have a lot of confidence in him I'm not saying voner in the field I'm saying is if V's going to be effective for you yeah you want him out there on third down when it's third and eight the team's throwing the ball so that's the thing is but when you look at that list of players 25 and under I mean again think about a year ago when we were talking about Bernard yeah and you didn't know and then now epinesa who really excelled and they brought him back canate had a very good rookie year a lot of high hopes for Shakir James Cook's an interesting one because I think a lot of people you like him yeah you're just looking for that other part I thought it was Cyrus torren had a phenomenal year it's funny to think that Bernard's 25 yeah um and Dorian Williams is a guy who I think they really have high hopes for that if he can learn you know learn the defense and then you got you know elim which would be we've talked about it what a huge plus it would be if elim was yeah um became a guy in the regular rotation at corner yeah when you thought he was out so I looked up when we started talking about ages I looked up an article that talks about how the Packers were the youngest team in the NFL last year all these things and obviously you can see the trajectory that they're on is trending in the right direction and then they kind of talk about the ages of some of these teams and leading into this year obviously you don't know exactly how the roster is going to shake out there will still be plenty of moves made but the 49ers right now have 18 guys who are at least 30 that is six more than any team right now wow I didn't realize that I mean I know they they had had veteran players so the league minimum League median sorry is eight League wide this is last year I think heading into this year so this article came out May of May 20th of 2024 it said The League wide there are 252 players who are 30 plus mhm that's an average of 7.8 players per team the Packers have one player over 30 wow wow their 90 man roster includes 20 rookies things like that um but just where the bills kind of shake out and that right now they have nine yeah and like I said who like some nine but like uh when I said like backups and special teams guys is the other guys and Dion's only 30 D's 30 so in that case but um yeah I it's funny when you you see that on a roster and you start to say we thought this was a transition year that is that is a lot of age to delete from your roster yeah quality players guys that will be missed in different ways but you did get I mean that that does drop the number down pretty fast yeah and again I think it you want to have that youth going in the right direction you want to have guys in their Prime right Josh Allen Taran Johnson those guys but then you have again I think you are encour by what Shakir has shown and can be in the future and you have a you know hopefully a number one guy in the future in Keon Coleman and building the rest of the team so yeah I I think this year I think that was a big part whether Bean wants to call it a transition year they had to get younger yeah those were the moves that we said you can say it's salary cap I'll disagree they were football decisions as we've talked about on this channel before that they were wanted to get younger was a a point of emphasis with this roster this off season need like they they had to too yeah it wasn't you know but you know like I said Diggs was 30 like in terms of that was age contract every other thing that goes in it but uh yeah I think they I think they've done that now the transition is these guys are all going into their yeah Prime how many of them will excel there's a lot of teams when they're looking at free agents sometimes they will look at that guy going into that second contract if he's not going to sign with his team and they're not going to tag him that's when they look to try to grab a free agent sometimes These Guys these guys are all in a in a pretty good spot for this team by the way I wanted to ask you about one other quick thing did I see Mike tanom on ESPN say Jordan love if he was starting a team number one is momes yep and the next guy would be Jordan love over over Josh Allen yep and he played nine good games and I like Jordan love I think he's got a chance to be good and by the way he's not that young what's he been in the league four years I mean he's young but he's not it's not like he's it's not like you said CJ strad correct because he had played and that that was what I was thinking about the age like Houston's a prime example we talked about it before that they kind of overachieved last year where they were now they can bring in some pieces to kind of not just teach them how to win Mike but they want to add that level of winning big games yeah like that's why you bring in some of these you spend the money now if you're a CJ like that's the other thing CJ strout is not up for an extension for at least another two years yeah he's not even they can't even do it they cannot do it like it's not in the CBA so like fr's like oh wonder when CJ st's gonna get his money he literally can't hold out like it's not like he can sit out and be like well I was this good I'm not playing next year like he's got two more years left before they can even start talking to him yeah that helps them a lot in terms of this but yeah I see that and I get it like Mike Tan I get it it's it gets attention if you say Josh Allen it's like oh okay it's Mahomes and Allen so you do you think they sit there and they're like what name would really get really make this go viral I don't know if they think like that I think they think more like yeah I could just say this but I really do like this guy and I want to look like I'm ahead of the curve and I'm going to take him yeah you know yeah hey good luck with that I mean he's a good player but I think I think I'd take Josh Allen first I agree I think you got another decade of Josh Allen anything else no I think we're pretty good I'm selling a house buying a house let me tell you it's nerve-wracking isn't it there quick aside if there's somebody out there and you know who you are that came to my open house and said I think this is Dan Fat's house I follow him I love buffalo plus I appreciate it yes I appreciate it they did I I think that was the word so so if you're somebody that toured a house and you thought by seeing a calendar that had Fates on it and you thought hey that might be uh Dan Fat's house uh it was it was and I appreciate the kind words yes so now buy the house you know what's so fun about buying a house that they don't talk about is that when you're selling it and you're showing all these things you can't be in your house at all no no you're out and also with two kids under the age of four they love keeping the house clean like they are so good at it yes like they don't want to move anything around yes oh my God and our realtor is we keep we are keeping this clean let's go stay clean get everybody in there Focus clean house full heart can't lose best foot forward that's it so let's see next week I'm on vacation you'll be here with Jenna I'll be here yeah and then you're on vacation yeah then I'm off for a little while too so we we'll mix it up and and before you know it we're all here yeah yeah we're like under we're like four weeks away it's Camp Camp's in three weeks 23rd yeah little little over three weeks weeks well when this is out yeah three weeks wow wow again comment in with some topics that we can discuss as we head into obviously uh period me phase me of this offseason uh as we're just trying to we're getting closer F me faze me said Mike floral appreciate it as always be sure to like comment and subscribe to the Buffalo plus YouTube channel share with your friends wherever you listen to your audio podcast we appreciate it as always we will catch you next time here from Mike catalana I'm Dan Fates and the Buffalo plus YouTube channel 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