Buffalo Bills: John Miller Key to Offensive Line’s Improvement
By Paul Taylor
After a rough rookie campaign with the Buffalo Bills, offensive lineman John Miller is focused on improving his play during his second year in the starting lineup.
No matter how you break it down, the Buffalo Bills had one of the better offensive lines in the NFL last season. The main argument in support of this is a ground attack, which led the entire league in rushing yards.
In addition – for what it’s worth – Pro Football Focus ranks the Bills as having football’s ninth-best line. However, the o-line will have to play even better this season if Rex Ryan’s men are to have any hope of finally ending the NFL’s longest playoff drought, which currently stands at 16 years.
With the left tackle, left guard and center positions set, most of the focus for improvement lies with the right side of the line. This begins with finding out if Seantrel Henderson will be healthy enough return to action, or if Jordan Mills will start the upcoming season at right tackle?
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Just as important though, will be the ability of John Miller to raise his game, after a frustrating rookie campaign. In his defense, he had to contend with an ankle sprain and the loss of his mother, but he still knows he needs to perform better in 2016.
In that respect, Miller’s deserves to be commended for his efforts during the offseason. For a start, he has been smart enough to spend time with Richie Incognito, discussing the two-time Pro Bowler’s approach to everything, from his training regime to actually playing the position.
Speaking to Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News, the 22-year old said: “You’ve got a guy who made the Pro Bowl, a guy who’s been a dominant offensive guard in this league.
“So I look at a lot of things he did and try to imitate it – try to break it down and use it to the best of my ability. Everything is technical to me right now whether that’s footwork in the run game, head placement, all those different things help me improve my game.”
In addition, Miller has radically changed his diet, and no longer eats red meat. For the most part, he now sticks to chicken and fish, along with vegetables and potatoes.
As the Miami, Florida native explained: “That thick meat, it’s hard for your body to break it down. It kind of stays in your digestive system a little too long — so it’s harder to burn that off.”
Despite Miller’s struggles in 12 starts last season, the Bills front office maintains high hopes for him. As far as they are concerned, this is still the same player who impressed them enough to pick him 81st overall, in the 2015 draft.
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Moving forward, the 6 ft 2, 303 lb lineman sounds like he has the right mentality to succeed: “We have to go out there and do our jobs – we don’t have to make it more complex than it already is.
“The game is already hard enough to play. So you just have to go out there and do your job, execute, hit on all cylinders and at the end of the day you look at the scoreboard and hope everything has fallen into place.”
If everything falls into place for Miller, the Bills offensive line will be even better in the upcoming season – a daunting prospect for other teams around the league. And if that’s the case then maybe, just maybe, the fans of Western New York will finally get to watch postseason football again.
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What are you expecting from John Miller in his second year in the NFL? Do you predict he will improve on his rookie campaign, or are you concerned he will struggle again? Let us know in the comments section below.