When the Broncos defense holds its meetings each week to prepare for third-down situations, the group rearranges its seating chart. For other meetings, the two captains, Knighton and Ware, sit next to each other, but for third-down prep, Miller slides into Knighton’s seat. Ware and Miller use that time to scheme, to draw their plans, mad scientists in the meeting room. Knighton is more than willing to cede his place of power. He’s seen what the pair can do, seen the effect Ware has on Miller. The calm veteran has a way of reaching Miller that few others in Denver’s locker room do, and the effect has been tangible. Miller is back, on the field and off, the physical terror and the offbeat personality you’d be hard-pressed to identify except for his aviator glasses and cowboy hat.
It’s impossible to say what kind of player, what kind of person, Miller would be had Ware decided to choose another of his many suitors last winter. But there’s no denying that lining up alongside one of his childhood heroes has changed Miller for the better, and the pairing has seemed to energize Ware, too. This is a new chapter for him, a chance to help a younger player and push himself in the process. A chance to finally win a ring after so many years of mediocrity in Dallas.
“We already had that closeness, that brotherhood, but now we’re playing on the same team,” Ware says. “It’s great to be playing with a guy like Von. I can’t do half of the stuff he does. He’s a phenom. He’s one of those type of guys where you don’t know what he’s going to do, so you just go and let him rush.”
Denver's Defensive Difference Makers
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