Von Miller, Defensive Player of the Year?

Douglas Lee Nov 30, 2011 10:53 AM

Race for Rookie of the Year: Miller by a Mile
www.profootballfocus.com

In fact, there’s a legitimate case to be made that Miller, the all-around excellent player specializing in terrorizing quarterbacks, is the Defensive Player of the Year…He not only has the most QB knockdowns of any player (11 sacks and 18 hits), he also leads all 4-3 OLB’s with his +19.3 run defense grade. Throw in a positive grade in coverage, and I’m asking myself one question. If he’s this good already, how good will he be with a full offseason under his belt? Note to everyone voting for rookie of the year, if your ballot doesn’t read Von Miller (with some exclamation marks) then you have failed football.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

It&#8217s pretty interesting, for sure Doc. Being an ex-rugby player, almost everything in that article was counter intuitive to me. Head first, not shoulder. While I understand the concepts they described, I just can&#8217t help but think that it you&#8217re leading with your shoulder then your arms and hands are a &#8220head length&#8221 closer to wrapping up a player and hence bringing him to the ground.

But NFL coaches are much better at sports science than I am. And Football is a game that requires violence in its impact so for that reason the head down tackle does make some sense.

I&#8217m going to head back to the lard and check out that article you mention above. Thanks Doc.

Posted by orangeblue_aussie on 2011-12-01 12:23:54

OBA -

That&#8217s a good point - he does have hands like Vise-grips. You&#8217re right, too - I noticed it in college, but seeing it against NFL players really emphasizes it.

I was reading the article on Lard today regarding tackling and how Denver is emphasizing it, working around the current new regs on pad work. The way that Denver is making tackles, that DJ has focused successfully on fundamentals and, as you point out, the power in Miller&#8217s hands are all signs of a team that has identified a problem and taken steps to solve it. It&#8217s been years since I was happy with Denver&#8217s tackling - it&#8217s great to finally see it happening again.

If anyone&#8217s interested, the history of how tackling changed was written up in a 4 part article that starts here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...

I thought that it was worth reading.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2011-12-01 04:29:14

Thanks Doc, I appreciate the answer. I&#8217ve been quite amazed at Von. I&#8217m not sure how anyone could vote for Cam Newton over Von Miller at this point.

It&#8217s interesting what you say about him not missing a tackle - I didn&#8217t know that but it certainly doesn&#8217t surprise me. It backs up an observation I&#8217ve had while watching him. Apart from all the other spectacular things he does, I&#8217ve noticed incredible strength in Von&#8217s grip such that it seems that as long as the QB is within hand reach of him, Miller will grab and pull him down. I first saw this on some of his old college film - it made my eyes widen - and it has continued into his pro career.

Posted by orangeblue_aussie on 2011-12-01 02:54:29

OBA -

There generally is a ROY award. It was my understanding that they started the DROY because the ROY almost always went to a RB or QB. In Miller&#8217s case, they should give him both ROY and DROY - when I look at his PFF stat line, it&#8217s unreal that this is a kid who will improve for years yet to come. He&#8217s going to be a unique talent for Denver - he already has 29 hits on the QB (including 11 sacks); his run defense is ranked at 19.3 (tops of all 4-3 OLBs) and he has 35 stops, yet he hasn&#8217t missed a tackle so far this year. It&#8217s early but he may end up as Rookie of the Decade.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2011-12-01 02:32:41

I love having Miller on our team. What a pick by EFX.

Posted by DavidInLA on 2011-11-30 21:02:52

Does there have to be definition between offense and defense? How is Miller not the sole candidate for rookie of the year - regardless of what side of the ball he plays on?

Posted by orangeblue_aussie on 2011-11-30 17:20:43

he&#8217ll just look more bad a** chasing down QBs with a cast on his hand!

Posted by Tombstone on 2011-11-30 17:12:00

Such an awesome quote there.

Yeah, Vic and Gary just mentioned the thumb and were trying to get confirmation. Fortunately, he doesn&#8217t run on his thumbs. ; )

Posted by broncosmontana on 2011-11-30 16:18:06

I posted this in the Lard thread, but just heard that Von had an operation on a broken thumb. Not sure how it will affect his play. Here&#8217s to hoping he recovers fast and can play at 100%.

Posted by jtomasik on 2011-11-30 15:55:41

Von Miller, Defensive Player of the Year?

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