The league’s No. 1 defense and the team responsible for handing the New England Patriots their one and only loss of the season will soon be welcoming back their best pass rusher.
Defensive end and 11-year veteran DeMarcus Ware has missed the last two games after aggravating a lower back injury early in Week 9 in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts; Ware originally was injured Week 5 in Oakland. After being held off the practice field for a number of weeks, Ware finally returned to practice Thursday.
“He looked good. He was much better today,” head coach Gary Kubiak stated Thursday. “I think that we just keep taking steps here, but was much improved over yesterday, so we’ll just keep going. There’s no pressure there. We just want to do the right thing, keep the progression going here and working him back.”
Kubiak is keeping a level head about his perennial Pro Bowler, but is feeling optimistic. “DeMarcus is very capable of playing, but I think right now we’re not looking too far ahead. We’re just trying to watch his progression each day. From yesterday to today, there was a big step.”
Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips would love to see No. 94 back on the field terrorizing quarterbacks, but understands it is a process. “We’re bringing him along slowly, but he’s progressed obviously enough to practice some, limited practice,” Phillips said Thursday. “We’ll just have to see. Obviously, we want him back, but we want him well and ready to go so he can finish the season strong and hopefully help us later on.”
Ware, who was Denver’s leader in sacks with 6.5 at the time of his injury, is okay with being eased back into the regular rotation.
“I’m okay with any play,” the star outside linebacker said. “Especially just getting out there and trying to compete. You don’t want to compete at 80 percent. You always want to be 100. You don’t want to go out there and be halfing-it out there on the field. Like I said, we’re taking it day-to-day and we’re going to try to see about this Sunday.”
“I’ve been a little more cautious.” Ware said after being asked if the re-injury was harder to come back from the original. “You can go out there and perform at 80 percent, but the thing is how long will 80 [percent] last? You just have to make sure that your body is totally right, so you can play through the season and look forward to whatever there is to come.”
Denver has had no problem replacing the injured veteran; both Shaquil Barrett and rookie standout Shane Ray have produced in Ware’s absence. Barrett and Ray have combined for 5.5 sacks and 25 tackles this season, with Barrett handling most of the workload since Ray also missed time with a sprained MCL. Ware himself has been impressed with the play of Barrett and Ray, even going so far to call them the “Dirty Duo.”
Both staff and personnel want Ware back, but maybe none more than Von Miller.
“DeMarcus is just a guy that you really don’t have to worry about,” Miller said Thursday. “If he could play, he will be playing. If he can’t, then he’s not going to play. He’s a legend out there on the field. He’s our guy.
“Whenever he’s back—he’s going to be back at some point this season, and whenever he’s going to be back, the other team is going to catch him,” Miller continued. “I’m just waiting for him to get back, waiting for him to get healthy. He will get healthy. He had six-and-a-half sacks four weeks ago. The league lead is only 11 or 13—somewhere in there. DeMarcus—he probably could have been leading the league in sacks right without all this stuff. We all know the type of player he is, the type of season that he was having, and I’m convinced the season that he’ll continue to have when he gets back on the football field.”
Miller also stated, “Whenever he’s back, the other team is going to catch hell.”
We couldn’t agree more Von.
