On his way out of Denver, linebacker Von Miller choked back tears while saying goodbye to a team and town where he won a championship, became a father and recorded more than 100 quarterback sacks.
“I will always have Super Bowl 50. Seeing pictures as I was walking out made me tear up,” Miller said Monday after he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. “We always got Super Bowl 50. Always got apountry.”
apountry will celebrate the Vonster until the 12th of Never. No matter what he achieves in La La Land, Miller will always bleed orange and blue.
After thanking him for the memories, however, is it OK to admit the time was right for Miller and the Broncos to divorce?
Yes, we’ll share the glory of Super Bowl 50 as long as the Lombardi Trophy still shines.
But the Broncos won’t ever get back the $114 million of misplaced faith they showed in Miller during the summer of 2016, making him the wealthiest defensive player in league history at the time.
So here’s a handkerchief to shed tears for the misty watercolor memories for the Vonster he used to be. After drying those eyes and taking a clear look at the current sad state of a once-elite franchise, itap also fair to say Miller has often been a bigger part of the problem than the solution during a long playoff drought.
Since signing his mega-deal, Denver’s record is 36-52. If everybody from John Elway to Vic Fangio to Joe Ellis can be bashed for failure to deliver even a whiff of postseason success, the cornerstone piece of this defense must also be held accountable for a team that has crumbled before our eyes.
In an effort to win the Super Bowl in the House that Stan Built, the Rams have pushed all their chips to the middle of the table, trading a second-round draft choice, as well as a future third-rounder, for Miller. But you might not want to gloat while splashing the plot, Mr. Kroenke.
On any given Sunday, the 32-year-old Miller is still capable of messing with a quarterback’s mind and wrecking the offensive game plan, although his best days are behind him. What’s more: Miller is not a leader. Never has been. Never will be.
Great teams in every pro sport are defined, almost without fail, by a locker room in which players hold each other accountable because a coach that screams to get heard eventually gets ignored.
Miller’s words have never, ever carried as much weight as his sacks. Yes, he’s liked by teammates, in no small part because the Vonster wants everybody to love him. Peyton Manning never had that problem. Itap why leadership isn’t a job for the faint-hearted.
In more ways than many Broncos fans would care to admit, the uber-talented athlete with Denver ties Miller most closely resembles is Carmelo Anthony. Both guys are headed down the path to the Hall of Fame in their respective sports because the numbers say few pros have ever rushed the QB as fiercely as the Vonster or shot the rock as prolifically as Melo.
Like Anthony, however, Miller is an eccentric artist who needs a strong captain to direct his immense talent.
With the Nuggets, Melo was never blessed by a guiding light more consistent than a brief mentorship under Chauncey Billups. The Vonster was lucky enough to have Champ Bailey help raise him, then was afforded the luxury of sitting back and telling jokes while DeMarcus Ware and Manning held teammates to lofty championship standards.
Miller was the MVP of Super Bowl 50; Anthony never got a sniff of the NBA Finals. Wanting no part of a rebuilding effort, Anthony forced the Nuggets to trade him, while the Broncos realized it was futile to keep hoping they could build a winner around Miller before shipping him to the Rams.
So the Vonster will be forever revered in Denver, while Melo might never be fully forgiven.
Thatap fair, because, in sports, itap all about the scoreboard.
But anyone believing the Vonster was going to sign back with Denver as a free agent after this season might be drunk on Orange Kool-Aid. And the scoreboard? It got Miller traded.
With the Broncos reeling on a three-game losing streak in October, Miller not only declared the team would beat Cleveland “for sure,” but also warned he was going to “kill” whatever poor sap lined up at offensive tackle for the Browns.
Well, Miller failed to put a hurt on Cleveland quarterback Case Keenum and limped off the field with a sprained ankle in a humiliating 17-14 loss. Down in Texas, where Miller was born, they have a phrase that might apply to trash talk a braggart can’t deliver on: Big hat, no cattle.
Nursing that same sore ankle instead of playing in what could’ve been his final appearance in a Broncos uniform, the Denver defense recorded five sacks against Washington without Miller on the field.
“I’m on my way to L.A.,” said Miller, before riding away from the Broncos’ Dove Valley headquarters in a Cadillac.
The Miller who wrecked Carolina in Super Bowl 50 and terrorized NFL quarterbacks doesn’t live in apountry any more.
Truth be told, that Vonster has been missing in these parts for some time.
