Roaming the vast green of Colorado, the renegade cowboy became lore.
Filmed in Colorado, 1969’s “True Grit” gave us Rooster Cogburn, perhaps John Wayne’s most iconic role, one for which he earned an Oscar.
“The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn, he is a pitiless man, double-tough,” the sheriff tells Mattie. “And fear don’t enter into his thinking.”
Roaming the vast green of Colorado, the renegade cowboy became lore.
Von Miller is true grit, a Bronco without a bronco. And when the sun set Sunday, the linebacker put on a Stetson in the locker room, as well as his spectacles, his answer to Cogburn’s eye patch.
“I made a vow that I’m going to grind and work and be the best player at my position,” Miller said after a day with 1 ½ sacks and four quarterback hurries in Denver’s demolition of Arizona. “I’ve got a poster in my locker that says “G.O.A.T,” which stands for the Greatest Of All-Time. And I feel like if you’re not going out there with that mindset, then what are you really doing?”
Forget DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward. The most-important addition to the 2014 defense has been the return of the real Von Miller. Sure, we saw glimpses of the old Miller after his return from a six-game suspension last season before he sustained a season-ending injury, but he wasn’t the cocky cowboy we remember from 2012. Vaunted Miller.
“I think he’s back,” Denver defensive tackle Terrance Knighton said, “and I just feel bad for quarterbacks now. And he’s got another guy over there (in Ware) who he has to race to the quarterback, so I’ll just sit there and play catcher and hope a guy steps up (into the pocket) and gives me a sack.”
PHOTOS: Arizona Cardinals vs. Denver Broncos
There’s been talk all season about Miller taking baby steps as he returned from knee surgery. He’s gone from good to pretty good to good gosh! The hope within team headquarters was that by December, he’d be a game-changer. Well, he changed the first game of October.
Miller’s most-influential hit wasn’t even a tackle. On a third-and-8 in the third quarter, he hurried Cardinals’ quarterback Drew Stanton, who suffered a concussion on the incomplete pass. Stanton was knocked out of the game, leaving third stringer Logan Thomas, a rookie, to face Miller & Co.
“I know our defense was excited because when a team’s taking shots (with passes), they’re holding the ball for an extra second,” said Denver quarterback Peyton Manning, the only quarterback who doesn’t have fear enter his thinking about facing Miller.
On Arizona’s second drive of the day, the playmaker pirouetted around some helpless oaf and bulldozed toward Stanton, who forced a pathetic pass.
And, in the second quarter, he sprinted past some sad sack for a sack on third-and-9 — giving our cow town’s cowboy a chance to dance.
Oh, and if he may, Miller quietly pointed out that he isn’t close to being “back.”
“I’ve always thought that I had a lot of room to improve — I still have a huge gap to fill up to be where I want to be,” Miller said. “I’ll just keep practicing hard — I had a great week of practice, and Wednesday and Thursday were probably some of the best practices I’ve had my whole career.”
Before the season, the renegade cowboy got cowboy hats for the rest of his posse. Stetsons. Knighton said he might even wear his to the next game. Miller said his desire was to create some unity within the Denver defense, but it also delivered a mindset.
“Let’s get ready to ride,” Miller said from the winning locker room. “It’s not eight seconds (like in rodeo), we’ve got 16 games, so let’s ride it out and if we fall off, get back up and ride it out. Just keep hunting.”
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman
