Getty Von Miller
Well, this won’t dispel rumors that Von Miller is emotionally checked out from the Denver Broncos.
The struggling All-Everything linebacker, sackless through three games, held his weekly press conference with reporters Thursday. But unlike any other time in his nine professional seasons, Miller was unusually short.
Like, 13 seconds-short.
“I feel good,” he said. “Got a great week of preparation. Got great teammates, great coaches. Excited about the opportunity this week versus the Jaguars. Got a great game plan in. I’m excited to play.”
Shortest news conference in Von Miller’s career. @AP_NFL
That Miller fielded no questions and spouted nothing but regurgitated cliches, doing so with an apathetic demeanor, would suggest there are issues bubbling beneath the surface. Miller is a consummate professional and among the best with the media; typically inviting and verbose.
It’s different than last year, when he conducted a brief presser to declare Denver would “kick the Cardinals’ ass.” Those were the words of a ticked-off but motivated Miller, who followed through on his promise.
This is, what appears to be, an apathetic 30-year-old superstar who just suffered through two wasted seasons of his prime and is currently trapped in the biggest slump of his Hall of Fame-bound career.
No sacks. No wins. No energy.
Good Bet to Get Off the Schneid
Believe it or not, Miller stands to shake the monkey from his back Sunday in Denver, taking on a Jaguars’ offensive line that’s surrendered five sacks and a rookie quarterback in Gardner Minshew who’s taken all five, with three fumbles to boot.
Jacksonville doesn’t do anything overly impressive on this side of the ball. Meaning it’s an ideal get-right game for Miller, the Broncos’ all-time sacks leader who’s pledged to start pulling his weight.
“I’ve got to find a way to play better, I’ve got to find a way to get sacks, I’ve got to find a way to do my job,” he said earlier this week, via 9News.
Fangio Confident in Tide Turning
Ask most Broncos fans, and they’ll tell you rookie head coach/defensive play-caller Vic Fangio is under fire for installing a system which seems to have offset Miller and Bradley Chubb’s production. Beyond the two pass-rushers, however, the defense as a whole cannot get going, failing to record a sack or takeaway through three games for the first time in 50 years.
Fangio has rationalized Miller’s invisibility as circumstantial, with game flow often dictating pressure. He’s also hopeful the wheels will begin spinning for Denver sooner rather than later, the catalyst a simplistic one.
“Just keep grinding away,” Fangio said Monday. “All of these games had had kind of the similar type personality to them and the teams are trying to avoid us, particularly our outside rushers, of having an impact on the game with throwing it quicker, running it more. We’ve been behind most of the time in all these games, and I think they’re willing to accept that until we can change it. We’ve got to change it by playing better defense to where we can get into some more passing situations. We had some nice rush on a couple of the third downs yesterday. Albeit they didn’t result in sacks, but they did result in incompletions. It’s still there that we’ve gone three games without one, which is highly unusual. I acknowledge that, but we’ve got to get better there.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL