EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — December 29, 2019.
That was the last time Von Miller—aka the Sack Master—did his thing and got a sack for the Denver Broncos.
It had been 623 days since the Super Bowl 50 MVP not only had a sack, but played in a regular season game for the Orange & Blue. It had been 623 days too long too for the heart and soul of this team.
Von quickly changed that on Sunday. In a huge way too.
Three plays into the second defensive series against the New York Giants, No. 58 was back to doing what he does best. On 3rd-and-2, from the Giants own 30-yard line, Von took down Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense for a loss of eight. The Sack Master was officially back.
“I think it was probably important for him just to get something like that going. Sometimes guys, players like him feed off that and it gets him going,” Vic Fangio said, explaining how it was important for Miller to get a big play early in the game. “They feel like, ‘Hey I’ve made a play and I can make another one at some point.’ And I think it’s important too for guys like him, when they’re going through a game and they haven’t had one of those, they start pressing a little bit and get discouraged. They were chipping him a lot, which that’s going to happen. In that regard, it is important to get him going.”
And boy did he get going. But the pistons really started firing on the very first possession of the game.
Four plays into his first regular-season game in nearly two years, Miller had a monster tackle, resulting in a loss of six yards. Not only was it a big play in itself, but it completely negated the Giants’ momentum after they hit a 42-yard pass the play before. Von singlehandedly took New York out of field goal range.
Without that tackle for a loss from Von, the Giants were in a position to take the first lead of the game. Time and time again, we’ve been told by multiple coaches donning Orange & Blue that the way this team is built, it operates at its peak when playing with the lead. Without Von, they likely would have been behind from the jump.
“It’s good to see his face again in the huddle when we’re breaking it down and everything,” Josey Jewell said on having the team captain back. “He’s definitely a great player. It’s just fun to see him go out there and kick people’s butt. It definitely helps us in the passing end of the game because they have to get the ball a little sooner. It puts a little bit pressure on them.”
Much like Mariano Rivera would close out games for the Yankees, that’s precisely what Von did, fittingly, against the New York Giants. With 3:09 left in the game, and the Giants hoping for a miracle, Miller flew off the line with a nonstop ticket straight to Daniel Jones. A second later, Von had Jones flatted on the ground.
Miller’s first sack on the afternoon wasn’t just big for Von and the Broncos, it was big in the history books. Von’s 107th-career sack moved him into the Top 25 in NFL history in career sacks. His second sack on the day wasn’t just a cherry on top, it moved him to No. 24 on the list.
“Sacks are good, but wins are better,” the man himself said after getting a game ball in the locker room after Denver’s dominant 27-13 victory over New York.
“It’s just another day at the office, man, especially in the National Football League—it’s a lot of ups, it’s a lot of downs. We had a great team win today. A great team win,” Von said after the team’s first September win since the 2018 season. “Offense played well—put up 27 points for us. Life is pretty easy on defense whenever you can do that. It was a great team win. It was a long road to get here for me personally. But when you get here, you don’t really think about all of that stuff. You just think about wins and the next game.”
Overall, Von’s day was about as good as it could have been. Three tackles. Two sacks. Two quarterback hits. Three tackles for a loss.
When asked after the game if he felt like he proved something—in regard to not being too old or coming off a season-ending injury—Miller quickly shook it off with a laugh, “Nah, nah, come on.”
But while he won’t say it, it’s clear—the future Hall-of-Famer Von Miller is back.
That’s fantastic new for Vic Fangio and the Broncos. It’s terrible news for opposing quarterbacks, especially Trevor Lawrence, who is Von’s target in Week 2.
Welcome back, Von.
