ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Von Miller has been known to share sack statistics with a teammate.
Providing it’s the right teammate.
“The last sack that I had overturned was in—we played the Steelers, and it was the same game where Shelby had the interception,’’ Miller said about the late-November 2018 game in which Harris’ end zone interception of Ben Roethlisberger sealed an upset win. “I beat my guy and I was on ‘Big Ben’ and Shelby came and jumped on the sack and they called it a half.
“With me and Shelby, it’s not like me and (Bradley) Chubb. I had to turn that one in (to the league stat folks). I had to turn that one in and get my full sack. Shelby had the pick that game, so I just let Shelby have that and I had to turn that one in and I had that one overturned to a full sack.”
> Above video: Rod Mackey's 1-on-1 with Von Miller after the Broncos' preseason victory against the Los Angeles Rams.
Miller said there was another time when he got Patrick Mahomes, but Chubb was pushed into the quarterback and the two split the sack.
“I couldn’t put our relationship on the line, and our friendship on the line by turning it in and saying this is my whole sack,’’ Miller said. “I just had to charge it to the game. I feel like Chubb is going to help me get more sacks, and I didn’t want to really put that strain on our friendship like that by being selfish, even though the sack was really supposed to be a whole sack by me.”
But again: “I love Shelby, but I just had to get my sack right.”
Now that he’s healthy again and off to a terrific start in 2021 with 2.0 sacks in the opener against the Giants, Miller is resuming his climb up the NFL’s all-time sack chart. His 108 career sacks rank him 24th on the official list (since 1982), and 37th on the unofficial list (since 1960). That doesn’t include his 6.5 postseason sacks.
Miller’s Super Bowl 50 performance will put him in the Hall of Fame someday, but it doesn’t help him on the all-time sack list.
As recently as the start of 2019 season Miller stated aspirations of chasing Bruce Smith’s record of 200 career sacks, but last year’s injury and a combined 8.5 sacks the past two seasons has quelled the pursuit.
A more realistic goal for the 32-year-old Miller would be 140 career sacks, which would put him past Jason Taylor for 7th place all-time on the official sack list; 11th on the unofficial list.
The unofficial list, by the way, brings in such worthy Hall of Famers as Deacon Jones and Minnesota’s famed Purple People Eaters of Alan Page, Carl Eller and Jim Marshall. Perhaps, someday, the unofficial list will become official.
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