For a good chunk of Bills fans, life without Matt Milano is unrecognizable. Milano's been a staple of the Bills' defense for the better part of the last decade, playing all eight of his seasons with the Bills. In that time, he's started 78 of the 94 games he's appeared in and earned one First-team All-Pro nomination, back in 2022. He'll go down as one of the most beloved Bills players of his era.
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And maybe it's best that Bills fans just concentrate on what Milano's done for the team in the past, because right now the present looks ... bleak. Milano's last two years in Buffalo have been a far cry from what Bills fans are used to, as he's yet to play in more than five games in either season since his 2022 All-Pro campaign. It's caused The Internet to speculate that Milano's time in Buffalo may be coming to a close, which is what Pro Football Focus ... focused ... on (sorry) in their latest list of make-or-break candidates around the NFL.
PFF thinks that Matt Milano could be playing his last games with the Bills sooner than you'd think
"One reason the Bills’ defense has struggled to make stops in critical moments is Milano's absence and ineffectiveness. At one point, he was one of the NFL’s best linebackers, particularly in coverage. Over the past two seasons, though, he has played a combined 544 snaps. Milano struggled to a 45.1 PFF coverage grade in limited work last season. If he can stay healthy and find his previous form, the Bills’ defense stands a much better chance of surviving an entire postseason run."
There's nothing specifically wrong with this analysis/predication, but that doesn't make me like it any more. I don't know the first thing about how PFF arrives at their grades – or even what they really mean – but even I can tell you that 45.1 is bad; there are very few things in life where a 45 grade means something good. If he was a baseball player, a 45 would mean he's a back-of-roation, lifelong minor league guy. I know that comparison is sloppy at best, but you get what I'm saying. At least, I hope you get it. Really all I'm trying to do is distract you from thinking too hard about the idea of a Milano-less Bills defense.