Before Von Miller and the Buffalo Bills took the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5, the Super Bowl 50 MVP took to the camera set-up in his home to preview the matchup in a vlog.
His words in the video were a lot 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 — recording videos has been a constant. His YouTube channel has over 38,000 subscribers, and now he’s bringing that content to the Bleacher Report app every Tuesday with a live stream called Bleacher Report’s The Voncast. The second episode, which featured Josh Allen, was the most-viewed vodcast in B/R history with 144,000 live unique viewers.
For The Win caught up with the future Hall of Famer to discuss The Voncast, Super Bowl expectations for the Bills, his former team in Denver and more.
(This interview has been condensed and edited)
How long have you been streaming and creating content?
VM: 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. You know, I’m on top of all that. I haven’t been playing video games my whole entire 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.
Draymond Green caught flack for podcasting during the NBA Finals. What do you say to people who take issue with players creating content during the season?
VM: I think it’s all in the player. And nobody on the outside world can tell you what is a distraction. What is, what’s not a distraction. You got 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?
How surprised are you about what's going on in Denver right now?
VM: I’m surprised. 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.
But when we had Peyton Manning in 2012, we started the season off [2-3] and I don’t remember everybody going crazy like that. … I honestly feel like that was the best team that 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 that 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 Denver Broncos are going through right now.
You're the active all-time sack leader. How aware are you of stuff like that?
VM: That’s really all it is 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. And if you get sacks along the way, cool. I just want to win football games and get sacks here and there. And that’s where my focus is. My focus really goes to my teammates and their mindset going into these games.
Is there a quarterback that you haven't sacked that you want to?
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.
The Bills have the best odds to win the Super Bowl. Is the weight of those expectations tangible?
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. So, it’s just another way to get the fans involved in the game, but I don’t really put too much focus into it.
Is there an actual mindset that a team collectively needs to win a Super Bowl that you can help impart on Buffalo?
VM: You know, 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.
We want to be at peace when we go out there, and we want to control everything that we can control. Making a play when it needs to be made or hopping on that fumble or making an interception or not dropping that pass or getting that sack. Whenever an opportunity presents itself for us, we like to say we don’t blink. Just because you do everything right don’t mean you’re going to win the game. But I think over a long period of time, you’ll win more than you lose.
You just played against a rookie QB [Kenny Pickett]. Do you go into those games licking your chops?
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. Like, 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.
What are the emotions going into this week's game against the Chiefs knowing this could be a potential AFC Championship matchup?
VM: You want to do everything that we possibly can do during the week to have success, whether that’s film preparation, working out, conditioning. All the little things. You add them up, and it tees you up and puts you in a position to have success. And this is where we are. We can’t control the football Gods. All we can do is just do everything in our power to have success.
