DENVER — Not for the first time will DeMarcus Ware give a speech Saturday.
The former Bronco and Dallas Cowboy pass-rushing outside linebacker will speak at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday in Canton, Ohio.
“It’s done,’’ Ware said last week in an interview with 9NEWS. “It’s one of the hardest things I had to do because you’ve got to put your life in a 12-minute speech. It was a big challenge.”
There’s a group of Broncos from the 2015 season who can say they’ve already heard Ware deliver the most inspirational talk possible. It was Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, the night before the Broncos were to play the favored New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots were a 3-point favorite even though the game was in Denver, at a stadium then named Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
As an 11-year veteran with not much playing time left, as it turned out, in his 33-year-old aching back, Ware was about to play in his first conference championship. Nice, rewarding, but he wanted to play in one more game. And he wanted to share that desire with his teammates.
For his pregame speech on the eve of the conference championship, Ware brought a prop.
“I remember going in and asking Elway, ‘Can I take the Super Bowl trophy to the (team hotel)?’’’ Ware said, referring to the team’s general manager John Elway. “He looked at me like, ‘What? What are you trying to do?’’’
It was the Lombardi Trophy the Broncos had won for a second consecutive year to cap the 1998 season, the Super Bowl XXXIII trophy.
“I just remember walking up to the stage when it was my turn to speak and then opening up my backpack and pulling out the Super Bowl trophy,’’ Ware said. “It was the last one that they won. You don’t need words for that. You don’t need words for that type of symbolism. And I saw all the guys when the chatter in the room subsided, it was like, ‘Holy Cow. We can win this thing.’’’
Ware was nearly unblockable against the Patriots, hitting quarterback Tom Brady seven times. The Broncos used two early touchdown passes from Peyton Manning to tight end Owen Daniels to take a 14-3 lead and held on for a 20-18 victory. Ware hurried Brady into make an errant 2-point conversion throw with 12 seconds remaining to secure the Broncos’ trip to Super Bowl 50.
Ware heeded his own words to help carry his Broncos’ teammates to his first-ever Super Bowl.
“I talked about iron sharpens iron and everyone sharpens another,’’ Ware said. “That had been our motto for three years there. We got to see that this year (in 2015) because I got hurt, Peyton got hurt, multiple guys went down and someone else always popped in. It got to a point where the guys felt what I was saying. That motto rang true for how our season was. Shaq (Barrett) stepped in, Shane Ray stepped in. Brock Osweiler stepped in. And when the starters were ready, they welcomed us back.’’
Just in time. Two weeks after his dominant performance in the AFC Championship, Ware had two of the Broncos’ 7.0 sacks on the league’s regular-season MVP Cam Newton and Denver, again a 3-point underdog, won its third Super Bowl, 24-10. Ware’s edge-rushing partner Von Miller was named Super Bowl 50 as two of his sacks led to two touchdowns.
It all went according to Ware’s speech the night before the AFC Championship. Ware and Manning, the team captains, and head coach Gary Kubiak again spoke to the team the night before the Super Bowl in their Santa Clara, Calif., hotel. Again Ware’s words were stirring.
But the speech with the Lombardi Trophy prop won’t easily be forgotten by the 100 or so players, coaches and staffers who were there to witness.
“I told them as I held the trophy, this right here was metal we made,’’ Ware said. “We built it. You could see the fire in their eyes. Then I told them before you all go to sleep tonight I want you to come up and touch this trophy because it’s yours. I want you to dream about it.”
The 2015 AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl 50 were the last two great games Ware had in him. He had many great games prior, which is why he is entering the Hall of Fame and football immortality. But he only had 4.0 sacks and 10 games the following season of 2016, when the Broncos missed the playoffs. Ware’s barking back left him no choice but to hang ‘em up after that season.
One of a few dozen reasons why the Broncos haven’t been to the postseason, much less the Super Bowl, since.
Ware, who turns 41 Monday, was 12th on the all-time sack list with 138.5 at the time of his retirement, and is 13th now. He was just 3.0 sacks away from the top 10 but Ware has said it was never about the all-time sack list. It was always about the pursuit of the Super Bowl ring. He got one in three seasons with the Broncos which is why his experience in Denver is part of his speech even though he spent his first 9 seasons in Dallas and will be presented for his induction by Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones.
“Oh for sure, they were part of my career,’’ Ware said of the Broncos. “I’ve got my family in there, I’ve got the Cowboys in there. I’ve got the Broncos. It was a life-changing thing with a lot of the players I played with. The way we prepared, the memories you have. Not just the Super Bowl year but every year we played together. But also the staff. The people. Even when I’m talking to somebody like you, right? We established a relationship together that will go on forever. That’s with so many people.”
The coaches he remembered fondly were defensive coordinator Wade Phillips – who was also his head coach in Dallas – linebackers coaches Fred Pagac and Reggie Herring and defensive line coach Bill Kollar.
Among his former teammates who RSVP’d for the induction ceremony and party next Saturday in Canton are Miller, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris Jr., Kayvon Webster, David Bruton and several others. Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner is scheduled to be there. Ware will get his Gold Jacket – No. 371 – on Friday and bronze bust on Saturday
“There’s a lot of guys coming,’’ Ware said. “The Penners have helped out so much and the Bowlens are really important. Elway said he’s probably going to be there.
“The speech is like about 11:30 when I read through it as slow as I can. But you never know, there might be some pauses up there, tears shed that could take up a little bit of time but they give you a little grace. They know where you’re at because they’ll have the speech on the teleprompter. But when you go off on a whim and start doing your own thing that’s when it starts to become a problem.
“I can’t even fathom what kind of emotions I’m going to have. But I know it’s going to be fantastic.”
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