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ENGLEWOOD, Colo – 34-year-old DeMarcus Ware has passed his NFL prime. The nine-time Pro-Bowler sat out most of the offseason with a back injury, hoping just to be “94-percent,” as he likes to joke, when the season started.
The good news is the Denver Broncos defensive captain is where he wants to be; the bad news is he’s not going to be able to play as much as he’d like to. Head coach Gary Kubiak told media on Monday that he’s going to sit down and decide on a set number of plays for the ace pass-rusher.
“You have to put that play-count behind you and say, ‘How effective can I be with the plays that I do have while I’m out there,'” Ware said of the restriction. “So it sort of puts an extra fire under you, too. If you know you’re playing a 60-play game, you can set guys up for those third-down plays but now every play that I’m out there, I’m going to feel like it’s a big play.”
What if, though, you could put the mastermind of Ware into a much younger body? What if you could get a second-year player, with first-round talent and a fresh skill-set to use all those tricks and setups? Someone like, oh, Shane Ray?
“I think we can,” Ware said. “While I’m out of the game, I’m going to be watching the tackles and what they’re doing, how they’re attacking us.”
If two are going to become one, though, both must be on the same page, with the same mentality and the same drive. Ware has made that very clear to his young protege.
“I went to him today, and I said, ‘There’s nothing that I accept other than greatness from you, when you’re out there and when you’re not out there. He looked at me in my eyes and he told me, ‘You know what, I feel the same way.’ So we’re on the same page with that, we’re going to go out there and do our best.”
Just about every person in the Broncos organization raved about Ray this offseason, he’s bigger he’s stronger, he’s faster, and he’s added to his bag of tricks. With Ware taking him under his wing, it’s easy to understand why the Missouri product has matured.
The two-headed monster will be tested right out of the gates as they go up aginst a player all have said is one of the toughest in the game to sack, Cam Newton, on Thursday night.
