If there is one thing common between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Buffalo Bills, it’s their animosity towards Patrick Mahomes. After all, he seems to be the only quarterback standing between both team’s dreams of progressing past the post-season. But good quarterbacking isn’t the thing that’ll stop Mahomes, it’s great pass rushing that will pose a threat. And who better to talk about than Von Miller and Maxx Crosby, both of whom have been on the mission of stopping the Chiefs star?

During last year’s Buffalo Bills-Kansas City Chiefs AFC Divisional Playoff game, Patrick Mahomes didn’t get sacked even once! Perhaps that’s what Von Miller, the Buffalo linebacker blames himself for. So, in view to correct that, it appears that he’s taking the same approach as Maxx Crosby, to be working out with Brandon Jordan, perhaps the best pass rush trainer in the league.

Von Miller is about to ‘knock off the head of the snake’

A video from MLFootball just surfaced, showing the All-Pro OLB Miller trying to bounce back from multiple ACL tears and knee injuries throughout his 13-season career. The video shows Miller working out with Brandon Jordan, executing various footwork and obstacle drills. Though he’s moving slowly, he’s preparing to bounce back after having played 12 games last season, finishing with a career-low 2 solo tackles in the 2023 season.

Though injuries have slowed him down a bit, he had a career-best 62 tackles in the 2016 season. But this is the present and Patrick Mahomes is still on the move. Miller’s injury-laden situation began in the November Thanksgiving 2022 game against the Detroit Lions where he suffered a meniscus tear in his knee. Exactly a year later, he suffered another Grade 3 ACL tear in his knee.

Though he underwent surgery, he still felt like he rushed to play football because he couldn’t watch his teammates suffer, but later regretted the decision. “I shouldn’t have been out there,” Miller said in an interview with Pat Benson of SI. The 2x Super Bowl winner and Super Bowl MVP is trying to get back on the trajectory of his Hall of Fame career and intends to play out his 6-year $120 million deal he signed with the Bills; hence consulting Brandon Johnson.

Jordan’s repertoire boasts of helping his clients is notorious. It not only did wonders with their tackling numbers but also boosted their sack numbers, awareness and run defense. Per the post, the coach has worked with the likes of Rashan Gary, Will Anderson, Montez Sweat, Matthew Judon, and many others.

But if there’s one name that stands out, it’s Maxx Crosby who struggled to find a football career after high school but made it to the NFL with Brandon Jordan acting as a catalyst.

The unbelievable transformation of Maxx Crosby!

Coming out of the Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas, Crosby found himself going through a growth spurt and gained a few extra pounds. To manage his weight, he relentlessly worked out and was able to shed 40 pounds. He thought that he would make up for it by gaining muscles when he joined EMU, but that didn’t come too easy as EMU was the only college that gave Crosby an offer. His East Michigan coach, Chris Creighton was shocked when he saw a lanky linebacker five months later, weighing 210 pounds instead of 250.

But Crosby slowly got his weight up and started working with Brandon Jordan and Damon Harrison. He saw an improvement in his run defense, his sack numbers, and his awareness on the field. His productive 2018 season saw 7.5 sacks, 69 total tackles, and three forced fumbles. That’s more than twice the difference between his rookie year at EMU to his final season in 2018.

By the end of his college career, Crosby went from 210 pounds to 240 pounds to putting on 15 pounds more, finally registering at 255 pounds. But there were more hurdles in his way. His scouts advised him to stay in school and improve, but Crosby registered for the Combine anyway and ended up 10 in the 40-yard dash (4.66 seconds).

That was still not enough, because he didn’t fit the Raiders weight criteria, though he made it to the NFL as the 106 overall pick. He was back to square one again because the Raiders thought he didn’t have enough strength to lift up the team’s defense, which only saw 13 sacks a year prior to his joining, which was fewest in the season since 2008, rated one of the worse defenses in the league at the time. From not getting offers from any college to Mark Davis seeing Ted Hendricks in Crosby, the transformation was massive.

Fast forward to 5 seasons, that number went up to 46, and according to a report by FOX, the Raiders rank 14 in the league and are in the middle of the league as far as their overall defense is concerned.

Coming back to Von Miller and the Bills, they rank 4 in the league in defensive stats with the Dolphins, the Chiefs, and the Ravens leading them, per FOX. Though Von Miller didn’t have a lot of hand in Bills defensive prowess with his 3 total tackles, he wishes to bounce back and improve like Maxx Crosby this year.