Kiz: A year after getting blown out in the Super Bowl, the Broncos got left out from the all-pro squad. Not a single Denver player made the first team. Oh, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, cornerback Chris Harris and linebacker Von Miller got consolation prizes, making the second team. All-pro, however, recognizes best of the best. You mean to tell me nobody on the Broncos, who won the AFC West for the fourth consecutive year, is the best at his position in the NFL? What’s more: While Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers received 44 of the 50 votes at quarterback, Peyton Manning got zero love.
Hooch: It’s bonkers that nine Broncos made the Pro Bowl team, yet only those three cracked either of the all-pro teams. Well, I must say that if Connor Barth, he of subpar Twitter nicknames (“Barth Vadar,” “Party On, Barth”), had been with the Broncos all season, he might have cracked first team all-pro, or at least second team. So to answer your question, it has to be Von Miller, right?
Kiz: I have no quarrel with Dez Bryant over Thomas at wide receiver, and Richard Sherman gets the edge over Harris because Sherman is more than a shutdown corner; his swagger sets the tone for Seattle’s can’t-touch-this defense. But everybody in the Broncos organization should be ticked that Elvis Dumervil beat out Miller as one of the league’s all-pro outside linebackers. The fax faux pas that sent Dumervil from Denver to Baltimore early in 2013 might have been the most critical blow to the Broncos’ chances of winning a ring last season. Doom is better than Vonster? It might be true. But, please, say it ain’t so.
Hooch: I must say that I’m also surprised Aqib Talib didn’t get more votes to even crack the all-pro second team. I’m totally fine with Richard Sherman and even Darrelle Revis being on the first team, but a Talib-Harris tandem would have been fitting for second team all-pro because they have helped transform Denver’s defense. But, yes, no “addition” has been better than a healthy Vaunted Miller.
Kiz: Harris and Thomas will make big plays for Denver in the playoffs. But the Broncos need Miller to go crazy if they are going to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy this season. It’s Miller who can (literally) have the most impact on New England’s Tom Brady or any other quarterback Denver faces on the road to the Super Bowl. Football is so easy for Miller, there are times I wonder whether he switches to cruise control. Somebody at Dove Valley should remind Miller of this all-pro slight every day through February. An angry Vonster is a dangerous Vonster.
Hooch: Ha, yeah, they should just play Elvis music nonstop in the linebackers room.
