Sunday Debate: Denver Broncos Von Miller Will Be Defensive Player of the Year
This week, Brendan Pignataro and Mark Morales-Smith will be debating who will win defensive player of the year. With J.J. Watt recovering from back surgery, who will steal the award?
It looks like we have another easy debate this week at NFL Spin Zone. One of our candidates for defensive player of the year is the reigning Super Bowl MVP, and the other tends to racks up stats against mediocre quarterbacks. That would of course be Von Miller and Khalil Mack. Similarly, I have been the MVP of these Sunday Debates since it’s creation, while my competitor Mark has to search for easier competition on social media to out-debate.
Related Story: Sunday Debate: Khalil Mack NFL Defensive Player of the Year for 2016
Now, before Raider Nation gets in a tizzy, I do believe Mack is a tremendous player. He will probably be a top four or five defensive player in the league for a long time. However, Mack needs to step his game up against the elite competition. He had a monster 15 sack sophomore season in 2015, but let’s take a closer look at how he padded his stats.
Mack had an insane five-sack game last year, but let’s not forget it came against Brock Osweiler who was benched later in the season in favor of Peyton Manning. He also had three games with two sacks, but those were against Josh McCown, Geno Smith, and Alex Smith. Not exactly murder’s row. Conversely, last year in three games against Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco, he only totaled one sack. Also, last year in two division against a very good quarterback in Philip Rivers he had zero sacks.
On the other hand, everyone knows the type of havoc Miller wreaks against the best quarterbacks in the league. Miller had two of the most impressive single game defensive performances I have ever witnessed last year during the Broncos playoff run. In the AFC Championship, Miller had 2.5 sacks against Tom Brady and a huge interception to set up a touchdown. Then, he didn’t disappoint in the Super Bowl with another 2.5 sacks against the regular season MVP Cam Newton and two forced fumbles. Those turnovers helped the Broncos score their only touchdowns in the game.
Miller is just now hitting his prime, and will continue his dominance from the 2015 playoffs into this season. He also has a better defense around him in Denver than Mack has in Oakland. After the Super Bowl, many people have started to compare Miller to New York Giants Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor. The comparison isn’t as crazy as it sounds considering Miller is averaging more sacks per season in his short career (12) than Taylor (11), and the way they both raised their game in big situations.
Even though Miller can say crazy things at times, he is still humble when he hears these comparisons. Miller told Jordan Raanan of NJ.com during Super Bowl week, “It’s humbling. Comparisons to guys like that make you uncomfortable. You have a Hall of Famer. I’m not comfortable with comparisons like that.” Maybe he won’t say it, but I’ll echo the comparisons of Taylor as well. The only thing stopping him from making it to Canton is off-the-field issues, which appear to be behind him.
You won’t hear Mack being compared to a Reggie White type at this stage of his career. He may one day, but he is not in that elite category yet. To receive such an illustrious award like defensive player of the year, Mack needs to do much better against the top quarterbacks in the league. Miller has destroyed the best, and will get another trophy for his mantle this season.
Related Story: Denver Broncos Will Be NFL's Top Defense in 2016
Please check out Mark’s opposing article, and feel free to join in on the debate in the comments!