Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Browns

Sunday wasn’t the first time Matt Milano made his presence felt in a game this season. But on a day where it was hard to know what the Bills could deliver after their week turned upside down by illness and weather, Milano who was ill himself midweek, provided a head-turning performance.

With his running mate Tremaine Edmunds out with a groin injury, Milano spearheaded the defensive effort contributing 12 tackles, including a team-leading three for loss with Ed Oliver (3 TFLs), a sack and a fumble recovery.

“You need to start talking about him as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate,” said DT Jordan Phillips. “For real. It’s not just this game. It’s every game. He makes a big play every week. He doesn’t miss tackles, interceptions, touchdowns, you can’t tell me anybody that is playing better football than Matt Milano. He’s a leader, he’s consistent, you can count on him every week. Tell me who is playing better?”

Milano was unquestionably part of the team effort to neutralize Browns’ top back Nick Chubb, who came into the game as the league’s third-leading rusher. On Sunday, Chubb was held to 19 yards on 14 carries, the lowest yardage total of his career in a game in which he had 10 carries or more.

Buffalo’s playmaking linebacker had two of the six tackles for loss on Chubb. Ed Oliver had or shared three others with Tim Settle, Shaq Lawson, Von Miller and Taron Johnson chipping in as well.

“We had things bottled up in the Vikings game last week and they got one big run on us,” said Phillips of Dalvin Cook’s 81-yard touchdown run. “Then we’re hearing about Nick Chubb and how we had to stop the run. The stats showed if they don’t run the ball very well, they don’t win games. So we were able to stop the run and we won the game.”

“The defensive line did a great job of getting a push back, staying in their gap,” said Milano. “DQ, Tim, Shaq, Big Phil, the whole D-line played well.”