The Buffalo Bills will be without Von Miller for at least a month after placing the star pass rusher on injured reserve shortly before Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots.

Miller, who injured his right knee in Buffalo’s Thanksgiving Day win at Detroit, will be sidelined for a minimum of four games, though Bills general manager Brandon Beane told reporters the team is optimistic the eight-time Pro Bowler will return before the end of the regular season.

The 33-year-old Miller sustained the injury when his knee bent awkwardly as he was stepped on by a Lions lineman last week, but avoided any torn ligaments and said on Tuesday he was hoping to return after missing only one game.

"He's a competitor, that’s why we love him. That's why he’s so great," Beane said. "The competitor in him – if he could wheel it out there tonight, he would do it.

"We just think in talking to the medical people that the best decision right now is to give this time, and that gives him the best opportunity to help us down the stretch."

Miller will be eligible to return for Buffalo’s final two regular-season games, a Monday-night clash with the Bengals in Cincinnati on January 2 and a rematch with the Patriots in Buffalo six days later.

The NFL’s active leader with 123.5 sacks, Miller leads the Bills in that category with eight in 11 games in 2022. It is the eighth consecutive season the 11-year veteran has registered eight or more sacks.

Miller, who signed a six-year, $120million contract with the Bills in March after helping the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl, also has been quite durable over the course of his career.

A torn ACL did limit him to nine games with the Denver Broncos in 2013, but he has missed three games in seven-plus seasons since.

Buffalo Bills edge-rusher Von Miller did suffer some damage to his lateral meniscus, but is targeting a return against the New York Jets in Week 14.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he suffered the injury on November 24, Miller addressed the injury – which some Bills fans thought could be season-threatening at the time – on his podcast 'The VonCast'.

"I do have some lateral meniscus damage and it's going to have to be addressed," Miller said on the podcast. "But I do feel like I can, you know, play through that, so I'm just gonna wait a little bit, and let the swelling go down for about seven-to-10 days and, hopefully, right before the Jets game I will be back."

Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, was initially ruled out indefinitely with what the team called a knee sprain after being carted off the field during Buffalo’s 28-25 Thanksgiving Day win in Detroit.

The 32-year-old pass-rusher will miss the Bills' (8-3) game against the New England Patriots (6-5) on Thursday.

Playing in his first season with the Bills, Miller has totalled eight sacks in 11 games after he helped the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl this past season.

Miller is the NFL’s active leader with 123-and-a-half career sacks, placing him 19th on the league’s all-time list of sacks leaders.

Buffalo Bills edge rusher Von Miller did not suffer a torn ACL during Thursday’s win over the Detroit Lions but is still having his knee evaluated by doctors, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Friday.

Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, is out indefinitely after being carted off the field during Buffalo’s 28-25 Thanksgiving Day win in Detroit.

The 32-year-old is expected to miss the Bills' December 1 game against the New England Patriots at the very least, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, but the team is still awaiting an official prognosis.

The injury was initially called a knee sprain, indicating some level of tendon or ligament damage.

Playing in his first season with the Bills, Miller has totalled eight sacks in 11 games after he helped the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl last season.

Miller is the NFL's active leader with 123.5 career sacks, placing him 19th on the league's all-time list of sack leaders.

Two-time Super Bowl champion Von Miller is expected to undergo an MRI after exiting Thursday's 28-25 Buffalo Bills win over the Detroit Lions with a knee injury.

Miller appeared to bend his knee awkwardly after he had his foot stepped on as he tried to get to Lions quarterback Jared Goff.

The Pro Bowl outside linebacker was able to limp off but spent time in the medical tent before being carted to the locker room.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott was unclear about the extent of Miller's knee issue, which forced him out of the game with less than three minutes left in the first half.

"I don't know," McDermott told reporters when asked about Miller's status. "I only connected with [head athletic trainer] Nate [Breske] at half-time, so I don't have anything to give you on that."

Miller was spotted leaving the X-ray room at Ford Field but was not wearing a moon boot nor using crutches.

The 33-year-old, who joined the Bills in the offseason from the Los Angeles Rams, has a team-high eight sacks this season. He entered Week 12 ranked second in the NFL with 37 pressures.

The Buffalo Bills took a number of punches in their 28-25 Thanksgiving win against the Detroit Lions on Thursday, but continued to get off the canvas to tough out a gutsy win.

Despite coming out on the losing side, the Lions took the lead in the first quarter, re-took the lead in the fourth quarter, and after the Bills were able to pull back in front, they clawed their way down the field to tie it with 23 seconds remaining.

But every time the Lions thought they had the visiting Bills on the ropes, Josh Allen and company were always able to find the answer, using those final 23 seconds to make their way into field goal range and escape with the win in regulation.

Coming into the game without two key starters on defense with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and pass-rusher Greg Rousseau out hurt, their injury list received another unfortunate edition in the second quarter when future Hall-of-Famer Von Miller was carted off with a knee sprain.

Touching on how the Bills continued to push through all the adversity they faced, top wide receiver Stefon Diggs said it comes from everybody's belief in the next-man-up to get the job done.

"That next-man mindset is real," he said. "I hate to preach it, sound like a broken record, but guys came in and played at a high level. 

"We just preach it to everybody to do the job. You don't need to do more than your job and you do your one 11th, we'll find a way.

"I tried to tell the guys everything in the past is the past. We didn't get off to the best start, but you keep rolling with the punches. 

"Things aren't gonna be perfect; I'm riding with my guy [Allen]. We just had to try to get on the same page, every week is different… things didn't happen perfectly, but we figured it out."

Allen echoed that sentiment, and highlighted the mental fortitude of kicker Tyler Bass to come out and nail the game-winner shortly after missing an extra-point.

"Guys are resilient, the ups and downs of an NFL game, that's a good team playing very well, playing good football right now," he said. 

"But again, guys just continuing to grind, guys going down and stepping up finding a way. I'm proud of our guys for doing that.

"I don't think you understand how big it is for a guy to do that in this league, for [Bass] just to feel that rollercoaster of emotions, to go step up for our team and nail it."

Head coach Sean McDermott also made sure to praise his kicker, saying he knew he could trust him despite the previous miss.

"You're going to have some [misses]," he said. "But to be able to let a player reset after making a mistake and come out, that's how you earn trust when you do that, right? 

"When you can give a player that second chance right there. I didn't have to mess with him. I knew he's so mentally tough, and he showed it again today."

The Bills are now 8-3 and atop the AFC East, with a Thursday fixture on the road against the New England Patriots up next.

Last season, the Buffalo Bills looked to have cracked the code of how to topple the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Bills beat the Chiefs 38-20 in Arrowhead Stadium in Week 5 of 2021, averaging 8.1 yards per play to Kansas City's 5.0, frustrating Patrick Mahomes and intercepting him twice in a display that suggested the balance of power in the AFC was about to shift.

Yet it proved a false dawn, with the Bills unable to contain Mahomes in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and famously failing to prevent him leading the Chiefs down the field in 13 seconds for a game-tying field goal that forced overtime in arguably the finest playoff game in NFL history.

While that game confirmed Josh Allen as existing on Mahomes' level among the NFL elite at quarterback, throwing for 329 yards and four touchdowns, it also was an irritating illustration of the Bills' lack of closers on defense.

The Bills pressured Mahomes 23 times but managed to sack him just twice, a dreadful conversion rate that prompted Buffalo to hand a six-year, $133million contract to 33-year-old edge rusher Von Miller.

Though Buffalo can get out of the contract much earlier, the length of the deal handed to Miller raised eyebrows, with the Bills making a substantial bet on the veteran who played a critical role in the Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl run following his mid-season trade from the Denver Broncos maintaining the level that helped him claim a second ring.

Few are likely to be questioning his deal in the wake of his performance on Sunday, however, as 371 days on from their win at Arrowhead last season, Miller helped the Bills repeat the feat, recording two sacks in a Buffalo performance that will substantially boost hope they have a formula to defeat Kansas City in the postseason.

On offense, the Bills leaned on one of the most devastating quarterback-wide receiver connections in the NFL. 

Allen targeted Stefon Diggs 13 times in the Bills' 24-20 win, hooking up with the former Minnesota Viking on 10 occasions as Diggs finished with 148 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Though not all of his targets resulted in a completion, Diggs delivered reinforcement, not that it was needed, of his status as one the game's top separation artists. He registered a burn, which is when a receiver wins his matchup on a play where he is targeted, on 12 of those 13 targets. Only the two receivers who posted 100 per cent burn rates, Tyler Boyd (six targets) and Juju Smith-Schuster (five) fared better than Diggs in that sense in Week 6 (min. five targets).

The volume Diggs receives as Allen's top target and the consistency he shows in creating separation makes for a frightening combination for defenses, and he proved too much for the Chiefs on the Bills' go-ahead drive, Allen finding Diggs for two first-down receptions, including one that set Buffalo up at the Kansas City 28-yard line.

With the Chiefs running a two-high safety zone coverage, Diggs displayed his route-running acumen by attacking the leverage of cornerback Jaylen Watson at the top of his downfield route to buy himself critical extra cushion as he settled in the soft spot in the zone before making a superb adjustment at the catch point.

Allen created extra time for himself by subtly shuffling to his left as Carlos Dunlap pushed the pocket, hanging in there and delivering a high-velocity ball that was further in front of Diggs than intended due to the interior rush from Chris Jones reducing his throwing platform. Diggs put his body on the line by laying out for the ball and survived the contact from Watson and safety Juan Thornhill.

Three plays later, after Allen had remarkably hurdled a defender on a 16-yard rush, he found Dawson Knox on a superbly accurate throw to the endzone to put the Bills ahead for good, the tight end deserving of great credit for the manner in which he worked his way back to the ball at the end of his corner route.

That drive came after Miller had forced the Chiefs off the field with a third-down sack of Mahomes, showcasing his still impressive physical flexibility and his motor to work his way around the corner and past right tackle Andrew Wylie to bring down the quarterback.

And Miller played a critical role in the game-clinching interception that followed on the subsequent drive.

Given Mahomes' exploits in last year's playoff matchup, 64 seconds appeared to be plenty of time for him to drive the Chiefs down the field for a game-winning touchdown following Knox's score. 

Miller, though, provided the finishing touch the Bills lacked in the postseason, winning inside with his lateral quickness to get pressure through the B gap, forcing Mahomes into a late throw to Skyy Moore on a crossing route that corner Taron Johnson read all the way, breaking down from his position in the Bills' zone coverage to intercept the pass and end the game.

While the Bills only improved their sack total from the Divisional Round shoot-out by one, Miller's ability to frequently dominate his pass rush matchups at this point in his career had a direct influence on Buffalo knocking off their biggest challenger for the one seed in the AFC and the team most expect them to meet again in the conference title game.

The rapport between Allen and Diggs and the big-play production of Gabe Davis – who followed up his stunning two touchdown-effort against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 34-yard touchdown reception and leads the league in burn yards per target among receivers with at least 20 targets (16.98) – should ensure the Bills will continue to boast an explosive passing game few in the NFL can rival.

If Miller can supplement that by serving as the closer on a defense that has Pro Bowl talent at every level, the Bills may finally have the recipe to land the knockout blow against the Chiefs when it matters most.

After signing a six-year, $120million deal with the Buffalo Bills, future Hall-of-Fame edge rusher Von Miller said it was far from an easy decision.

Miller finished 2021 with 9.5 sacks for the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Rams, racking up five for Los Angeles in the final four games of the regular season.

His strong play down the stretch carried into the Rams' triumphant postseason, Miller registering a sack in the wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before sacking Joe Burrow twice in their victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

He finished the season fifth among edge rushers with at least 100 one-on-one matchups with a stunt-adjusted pass rush win rate of 43.40, according to Stats Perform data.

When reflecting about his free agency, Miller said he was surprised with how difficult the decision was.

"I wasn't expecting it to be like that," Miller told reporters. "I was expecting you win the Super Bowl, you got your offers out here, where do you want to go, pick, go back to the Rams. But it was tough man, it came down to the very end.

"I feel like I let [the Rams] down – I feel like I'm breaking up with my girlfriend. That's just me and the way I go about my business. 

"But this was the one time in my life where I had to make a decision for me. I saw what makes Aaron Donald Aaron Donald, and it was hard to walk away from that.

"The only way you can walk away from that is to walk into something special. And what they're doing here is extremely special. 

"[The Bills are] gonna win a Super Bowl with or without me. They've built an amazing team."

Two-time Super Bowl-winning edge rusher Von Miller has signed with the Buffalo Bills in a deal worth a maximum of $120million over six years.

According to reports, Miller is guaranteed $45m at signing, with the contract including $51.5m in total guarantees.

Miller, 33, was widely tipped to return to the Los Angeles Rams after joining the team in a mid-season trade and helping them win their first Super Bowl since returning from St Louis.

Instead, he signed what stands as the fifth-largest contract for a defensive player by total value.

Miller is a seven-time All-Pro, a Super Bowl MVP and a member of the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.

He is coming off a season in which he reaffirmed his undoubted prowess as one of the league's premier edge rushers.

Miller finished 2021 with 9.5 sacks for the Denver Broncos and the Rams, racking up five for Los Angeles in the final four games of the regular season.

His strong play down the stretch carried into the Rams' triumphant postseason, Miller registering a sack in the wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before sacking Joe Burrow twice in their victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

He finished the season fifth among edge rushers with at least 100 one on one matchups with a stunt-adjusted pass rush win rate of 43.40, according to Stats Perform data.

While Miller is still at the top of his game, the Bills also made a move to reinvigorate the career of a player on the offensive side of the ball, signing tight end O.J. Howard on a one-year deal.

A first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2017, Howard has played an extremely limited role in the Bucs' recent success, tallying just 25 catches in the last two seasons.

Having averaged 16.6 yards per reception across his first two seasons in the league, the Bills will hope they can help him recapture that explosive early form and provide yet more support for quarterback Josh Allen after their phenomenal offensive performance in a memorable overtime shootout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Von Miller may have to wait to make his Los Angeles Rams debut, with head coach Sean McVay wanting to "ease him back in" after an ankle injury.

Miller, 32, joined the Rams from the Denver Broncos in a blockbuster trade on Monday, which significantly boosts McVay's 7-1 side and their NFL Super Bowl prospects.

A Super Bowl winner and MVP, Miller arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday and underwent a physical and onboarding but sat out practice on Wednesday, ahead of Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans.

Miller missed the Broncos' Week 8 game due to an ankle injury suffered against the Cleveland Browns in Week 7, putting his availability to face the Titans in doubt.

"He'll do some limited work off to the side, just getting a feel for where his ankle is at. He hasn't been with us," McVay told reporters about Miller on Wednesday.

"Want to be smart, want to be able to ease him back in. We'll see what that looks like a day at a time."

McVay said the eight-time Pro Bowler was eager to play for his new team.

"Oh yeah, he's going to do everything in his power to try to play," McVay said. "But I think there's an element of let's take it a day at a time and let's be smart, let's get a feel for how he's doing, but this guy is an elite competitor and he definitely wants to be able to do that."

Miller has a pressure rate of 24.8 per cent, which was well above the pre-Week 8 average of 17.2 per cent for edge rushers.

McVay also revealed quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Robert Woods should both face the Titans, despite not practicing on Wednesday.

"We're fairly banged up so we're going to take a little bit more modified approach to practice this week," McVay said, adding later, "it's more about just being smart, being safe."

The Rams beat the Houston Texans 38-22 on the road last week after leading 38-0 heading into the fourth quarter. They are one of two teams (also the Dallas Cowboys) to score at least 20 points in every game this season, according to Stats Perform.

Meanwhile, the Rams have scored points in every half dating back to Week 13 in 2019 – their streak of 58 consecutive halves is the second-longest active streak (Baltimore, 135), per Stats Perform.

The Titans (6-2) will be without running back Derrick Henry, who underwent foot surgery on Tuesday.