One of Von Miller’s newest teammates nailed it when describing the edge rusher’s performance against the Seahawks - and specifically against its elite QB.“Von is a monster — he’s a man among boys out here Dre’Mont Jones Denver Broncos Jersey ,” said Adam Jones, who joined the Broncos’ defense two weeks ago and got to see first-hand what a difference maker Miller is in the game. And that includes having played with DeMarcus Ware and Jevon Kearse.“But Von Miller is by far the best defensive end, linebacker, however you want to call it, that I’ve played with — period,” Jones added. “The guy comes to practice every day, plays hard, practices hard, leads by example — and it shows on Sunday.”Even Mother Nature can’t stop the Vonster. With asthma and an allergy to grass, the outside linebacker has been utilizing oxygen on the sidelines since he came into the league. But a jumbotron view of No. 58 putting on the oxygen mask at Mile High on Sunday after his third sack was cause for extra celebration in Denver - one he felt a tiny bit bad about.“When I get to the sideline, I’m going to get on the oxygen no matter what, even if I [don’t] need it or not. It’s just tradition,” he said, adding he wasn’t trying to hype the crowd. “I wasn’t even paying attention, and I look up and Case is telling everybody to be quiet. I felt kind of kind of bad for a second. But it was a great moment to share with the fans and share with Broncos Country.”For Miller’s long-time teammates, this was business as usual. Well, sort of. Miller’s three sacks, four QB hits, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery was as dominating a performance as he’s had since Super Bowl 50, and it appropriately vaulted him onto the NFL’s Top 50 All-time Sacks list.“He’s really a freak and he does a lot of things that help other players make plays too,” noted Todd Davis, who led the team with eight tackles and one QB hit. “The way he really rushed off the edge and maintained that tackle and Chris [Harris Jr.] was able to come off the edge and make a play. People see Chris make the play, but you don’t see what Von does again to make another sack happen. He’s a great player, and I’m just excited to watch him play, even when I’m on the field with him.”Justin Simmons, who added another interception to his resume on Sunday, agreed that a pass rusher like Miller makes everybody’s job on defense a little bit easier - especially against a quarterback like Wilson.“When you play with someone like that, it makes your job so much easier. Russ is definitely one of the best, if not the best, mobile quarterbacks in the game, and so when you see him back there flustered a little bit it’s because of ‘58’ and the rest of the guys up front,” Simmons said. “When you have a dominant front seven like we do, it makes our job on the back end so much better. That’s what we’re encouraged about. We didn’t play the best that we can, and we know that our front seven is amazing, so we’re going to get after it every week.”And rookie Bradley Chubb made sure to take notice of the “sack master” on his team.“When he got the first [sack] I was like, ‘OK, he’s so special.’ When he got the second one Brendan Langley Jersey , I was like, ‘OK, he needs to slow down, I need to get one.’ Then he got the third one and I was like, ‘Alright, this is his game and nobody can take that from him,’” Chubb said. “He’s just a great player, and I’m happy to be on his sideline.”Nothing in Miller’s performance Sunday was out of character. It’s what Broncos fans have come to expect from him.But it has been a long time since getting to witness such domination from No. 58, and that had everything to do with having a lead in the game.“He’s a special player, but if you’re not playing with a lead, he can’t be special,” coach Vance Joseph said. “Last season, we played with I think two leads, so hopefully we can get more leads, and he can be special each week for us.”Miller certainly won’t argue with that, but he’s definitely happy to have the game against Wilson behind him.Wilson, who was sacked six times, only tallied five rushing yards on the day. And he did beat the defense with his arm for 298 yards, but thanks to the Broncos’ offense being able to keep up - and even ahead - the strategy allowed the defense to maintain its aggressiveness and frustrate the Seahawks.“We played a really tough defense. This is one of the best defenses we will face all year,” Wilson said after the game. “They have, obviously, Von, who is a great player and made some key plays.”One of those key plays started off as a mistake by Von, who self-described his mistake as an “ol茅” after jumping outside and needing to gain ground to cover the runner.“I had ol茅’ed outside, and technically that’s not a good move,” Miller laughed. “I knew I needed to get back down to be able to make the tackle, and the running back, he was running and I just saw the ball and I just grabbed it.”Miller has stripped the ball from a QB many times, but it’s not often he “steals” it right out of the hands of the running back. “[Defensive Coordinator Joe] Woods and Coach Beake [assistant defensive line coach Chris Beake] and all the defensive guys, they’ve been preaching ‘Run to the ball, run to the ball, run to the ball,’ and this whole offseason, I’ve been like ‘Why? Why? Why?’” Miller admitted. “Now I see it. Now I see it. So I appreciate you, Coach.”Making a strong case already for Defensive MVP this season, Miller knows he can do what he does because of the strong supporting cast around him.“I know we’ve got really great rushers all across the field. All I’ve got to do is rush. If the time is ticking and [Wilson] is holding the ball four or five seconds, somebody else is coming. So having Bradley and Shaq and Shane and Wolfe and all those guys Bradley Chubb Jersey , it definitely eases the mind,” Miller said, happy to share the glory in a win. “We’ve got a great team. We got a great win today. We played great defense. This is how you want to start a season off.” Going into Super Bowl XXXII, the Green Bay Packers were considered heavy favorites. The AFC hadn’t just lost 13 straight Super Bowls, they weren’t even competitive. Conventional wisdom said the Broncos had no chance after they scraped by the Steelers and Chiefs to get into the game, while Green Bay cruised past their opponents.Even the advanced numbers favored Wisconsin, though FootballOutsiders DVOA statistic hinted at a much closer game than pundits were calling. Green Bay was number 1 while the Broncos were 2. If you fire up Youtube and re-watch the game it will became painfully clear that Terrell Davis may have been the MVP and John Elway the story, but Steve Atwater and the defense were the difference in the game.The last time I watched Super Bowl 32, I was a freshman in high school. Even then I could appreciate how the Broncos’ defensive scheme centered around calculated gambles, but it took the years since to fully appreciate how the Atwater & Braxton play on the back end made it feasible. The First Half: Atwater sets the defensive toneGreg Robinson’s defense was notorious for corner blitz and pressure packages that could disorient even the most grizzled quarterbacks in football. The Broncos rode that mentality to a top 10 ranking in DVOA in 1997 and looked to capitalize on three-time MVP Brett Favre’s gunslinger mentality. It took a little patience to see the results. The first drive was textbook for the Packers, with Favre connecting on a long pass to convert a third down. The 26-year-old stood tall in the face of a six-man rush to find Antonio Freeman for a 13-yard gain. Atwater made him pay for it. Favre finds Freeman on a crossing route, but so does the Smiling Assassin. That first drive ended with Favre throwing his first touchdown when Antonio Freeman managed to keep his feet in bounds despite Atwater’s best efforts. Mike Shanahan’s offense quickly responded with a score of its own to tie the game up 7-all. Then on the first pass of the Packers’ second drive, Robinson put trust in Atwater to hold up over the top as he dialed up a corner blitz. The result was an interception by Tyrone Braxton to set up the drive that ended in Elway’s 1-yard touchdown run. Favre and the Packers managed to run two more plays before the Broncos’ D struck again. Atwater’s forced sack fumble was the second straight turnover by the Packers D. Words can’t properly describe the onions it takes to send both safeties on a blitz, but the six-man rush overwhelmed the Packers’ pass protection. With Dorsey Levens opting to block Braxton on the play side, Atwater is completely free to rush Favre’s blind spot and blow him up. The ball squirts out like ketchup to a shirt and Neil Smith makes the easy recovery. The turnover leads to a long Jason Elam field goal, and Denver’s 10-point lead. After Favre finds Mark Chmura to end the second half, the deficit is cut to three.The Second Half - Atwater saves the gameThe third quarter opens with a Terrell Davis fumble and the Packers ready to take control. Robinson and the Denver D force one field goal try, but an Alfred Williams penalty gives Favre a new set of downs within the 20. After a Dorsey Levens run for no gain, Green Bay goes to the air on 2nd-and-10, and Atwater makes his presence known once more.This 2nd down pass defense saved the Broncos from a touchdown drive. Two baffling false starts later and the Packers are forced to settle for a 27-yard field goal. After trading points and punts for the next six possessions, the Broncos finally pull ahead for good when TD scores his third namesake with less than two minutes remaining.Atwater stops a Packer touchdown on this pass deflection in the 4th.It takes Favre all of 35 seconds to get Green Bay to the Denver 35. With 42 seconds left on the clock, facing a 3rd-and-6, the Fun-slinger launches a bomb for Robert Brooks that could have brought the Pack to the 11. Instead Brooks can’t haul in the pigskin and Atwater destroys him anyways. Mobley’s pass deflection on 4th is the climax, but Atwater’s kill shot on 3rd set it up. If any of the above plays go against the Broncos, Pat Bowlen never says, “This one’s for John!” Even beyond the GIFs, Atwater was ever-present throughout the tape - he was a missile cleaning up the second and third level, much like he was the entirety of his career. It had been so long since I had last watched him play that its easy to forget how much ground he could cover. Without Atwater, the Robinson scheme wouldn’t have held up to Favre and the Packers, and if the D doesn’t carry its weight, TD and the Broncos would have needed 50+ points.These “what ifs” are easy to dismiss with history growing ever longer, but winning Super Bowl 32 altered multiple legacies forever.John Elway became a winner rather than the QB who couldn’t win the big one. Shanahan became “The Mastermind,” and his zone running scheme survived to present day. Denver itself underwent a transformation.Super Bowl 32: John Elway, Broncos upset Packers | VaultSteve Atwater represents the missing piece in all those legacies changing forever. He was the defensive anchor for the last 9 years of Elway’s career. Like “The Duke,” “The Smiling Assassin” deserves his own bust in Canton to forever cement his legacy.