Von Miller appears to be all the way back

Von Miller didn’t have a sack last season after returning from a torn ACL suffered on Thanksgiving Day of 2022. But two games into his third Buffalo Bills season and his 14th in the NFL, it looks like he’s returned to his old form.

A third-quarter sack of Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson during a Thursday Night Football game gave Von Miller his second sack in five days, increasing his career total to 125.5 as he continues piecing his way up the NFL’s all-time sack list.

Miller is mostly a pass-rush specialist now. After starting 11 games in 2022 — his first season with the Bills — he didn’t start at all last year in his return to the lineup from the torn ACL. He also didn’t record a sack in 12 regular-season games and two postseason contests last season, finishing with just 3 quarterback hits in what was — by far — his worst NFL campaign. That included a game against the Denver Broncos in which he was a non-factor.

But it often takes another year before player can return to their old form following an ACL injury. And the structure of the contract Von Miller signed with Buffalo in 2022 bought him time; the team couldn’t cut him without further worsening their rough salary-cap situation.

So, Miller had time to work his way back.

During the fourth quarter Thursday, the Amazon Prime broadcast announced that Miller had 4 pressures Thursday night with an average time to quarterback of 2.10 seconds — his best figure since 2021, which was his last Broncos season before a mid-campaign trade to the Los Angeles Rams.

By the numbers and by the eye test, Von Miller looks to be his vintage self again. And that could give the Bills a chance to achieve the goal that has eluded them in the Josh Allen era: returning to the Super Bowl.