DeMarcus Ware Forecasts Von Miller's Night in First Tilt vs. Broncos

With Von Miller set to face his beloved Denver Broncos for the first time, the headlines are writing themselves. If you had to pick any of Miller's former teammates to accurately predict his state of mind entering the Buffalo Bills' home tilt vs. the Broncos on Monday Night Football, chances are, it would be fellow Super Bowl 50 champion DeMarcus Ware.

Ware, recently elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, checked in with The Denver Gazette's Chris Tomasson, predicting Miller's headspace could be a bit crowded on Monday night.

"It will be a very emotional game because you started your career somewhere and that's what Von Miller did," Ware told Tomasson. "The fans were always behind him. (His Denver career) propelled him to the Rams to win a Super Bowl and sign a big contract with the Bills. And now you face some of your former teammates. It's going to be very emotional for him."

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Getting too caught up in the whirlwind of emotions is also a very real danger that Broncos head coach Sean Payton will be guarding against with his own troops. Setting those intangible factors aside, allowing Miller's slow return from a second major ACL surgery might mitigate the likelihood of him taking over the game.

In five games since returning to Buffalo's roster, Miller has struggled to be a factor in a major capacity. Thus far, he has amassed zero sacks and only one tackle. Even the simplest of eye tests reveals a player struggling to get back up to speed.

Battling against injury with an aging pair of legs underneath is also familiar territory for Ware. Finding that extra spring in the step sometimes requires a special kind of motivation, and Ware feels that facing the Broncos could provide Miller with the missing spark.

"When you're coming off an injury, you have to reset your mind on what you want to accomplish," Ware said via Tomasson. "He's probably hurting a little bit. He's playing the best that he can... He should (get some stats against the Broncos). When you're playing against your former team, it's an emotional game, and you really want to play well.

The glorious decade Miller spent coming off the edge in Denver will ensure his standing on a lofty pedestal in the estimation of Broncos Country, but the quest to replace the Super Bowl 50 MVP has remained since he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams back in 2021. Since then, the Broncos' front office has churned through high-priced free agents like Randy Gregory and higher-value draft picks like Nik Bonitto to try to bridge the gap.

Payton solved the riddle of the underperforming Gregory by simply cutting bait and giving younger players an opportunity to thrive, which they have done to an extent. Settling upon the policy of developing their own crop of next-gen pass rushers, like Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, and Baron Browning, Payton knows it's a complex process that takes time.

"Just from a career standpoint with pressure players, they're kind of like pitchers," Payton said of pass rushers on Monday, drawing comparisons to the game of baseball. "Generally, when they come to our game, they have one pitch, whether it's speed or power. I think they have to develop another pitch."

The Broncos letting their pass-rushing version of Sandy Koufax leave town boiled down to Miller's advancing age and fiscal restraints, but it still reduced the perennial All-Pro and countless Broncos fans to tears. The mere sight of Miller wearing anything other than Orange and Blue still makes Denver die-hards twitch a little in their armchairs.

On Monday night, Broncos Country will hope that Miller's legendary game-wrecking abilities will remain frozen in time — at least for one more week.

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