ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When Von Miller took down Kirk Cousins in the first quarter of Sunday's game against the Vikings, he added another name to a long list of quarterbacks.
In his nine NFL seasons, Miller has now sacked 50 different quarterbacks.
From Philip Rivers — whom Miller has sacked 16 times, the most of any quarterback on his list — to Cousins, it's a group that contains a number of Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl winners.
"I didn't even know," Miller said Thursday about his accomplishment. "I'm like, 'bruh.' I didn't even know. I'm not even keeping count how many quarterbacks I sacked. It's tough to keep up with all the quarterbacks. You've got 32 teams and they have a constant rotation of quarterbacks.
"To that note, I've had a lot of great teammates. I've had a lot of great games with [DE] Derek Wolfe. If it's 50 quarterbacks, Derek probably helped me with 40 of those. Having great players and great defensive coordinators and great teammates around me has been incredible. ... There's no way you could sack 50 quarterbacks without great team effort. I'm pretty excited about that and pretty grateful about that. Let's keep it going."
Miller will aim to add another quarterback to the list when the Broncos travel to face the Bills. He hasn't yet played second-year quarterback Josh Allen, and it won't be easy for No. 58 to make him No. 51.
"He's about 6-foot-6," Miller said. "I don't know how much he weighs, but he's got a mean stiff arm, especially going to his right. I hate making player comparisons. I hate when people compare people to me and I hate comparing people to other players and stuff, but the guy's got a lot of — I don't even want to say like [Panthers QB] Cam Newton or anything like that because Josh Allen is his own player. He is definitely up there as one of the most [difficult to tackle]. I wouldn't even say elusive because guys are getting on him, but they're not able to take him down. He's definitely a tough tackle, and he's definitely a special talent. I don't want to make any players comparisons. He's a unique player, he's able to throw the ball down the field, got a strong arm and got a great group of receivers and running backs around him. It's going to tough for us out there in Buffalo."
DOUBLE TROUBLE
When the Broncos moved the ball to the Minnesota 4-yard line with 10 seconds to play and trailing by four points, the Vikings responded by double-teaming wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
The Vikings' decision posed issues for the Broncos in the short-term, as Brandon Allen and the offense were unable to score.
Moving forward, though, Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello expects that added attention to only help the Broncos.
"It's exciting," Scangarello said Thursday. "We've been talking about it now. It's a lot more fun when people know to double him. It's nice when you establish yourself and you become 'a guy' in the league and you become something that people view in that respect. I remember going through this with [Falcons WR] Julio [Jones] in 2015 and how [49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] transformed himself as a play-caller once you realized what it meant to the offense. We learned from that, we've been talking about it a lot and it'll help us down the road.
"Does that mean you don't go to him when he's doubled? You have to be particular with what you do and when you do it. It will create things in the run game, it'll create things for other players and ultimately it will be a big, big part of our future and what we do here as an organization."
A WHOLE LOT OF HARRIS
Defensive lineman Shelby Harris turned in a career-best performance against the Vikings as he recorded three sacks and a forced fumble.
"He's just playing good," Head Coach Vic Fangio said Monday. "I think he's feeling more comfortable playing within the defense. He had some good opportunities yesterday with the way the plays played out. He had the nice caused fumble on the one sack where he came from the blind side. He's just been playing better. If you keep playing good, the opportunities come."
Harris was the first Bronco to record a three-sack game since Bradley Chubb did it against the Rams last season, and he's the last true defensive lineman to accomplish the feat for the team since 2004.
