If you are a football fan, you have to be impressed with the career that Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller has already put together in his five seasons in the league.
Miller, who was drafted by the Broncos second overall in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, has already managed to compile 60 sacks in 73 regular season games. As far as his career playoff work goes, the Broncos linebacker has 6.5 sacks in 7 games and 5 of those postseason sacks came this year on Miller’s path to becoming a World Champion and Super Bowl MVP. However, none of Miller’s 16 total sacks on the season came against the Pittsburgh Steelers and you can thank tackle Marcus Gilbert for that.
In the Week 15 game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, Miller played 63 total snaps and was on the field for 49 pass plays. During all of his defensive snaps, he registered all of just one quarterback hit on the stat sheet. That hit, however, was charged to Steelers guard David DeCastro as Miller had looped inside via a stunt on the play. The Steelers only ran 14 times in that game and only once to their right. As a result of that, Miller didn’t so as much record a single tackle in that contest.
In the Divisional Round playoff game against the Broncos in Denver, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger dropped back to pass 40 times in total. While he was sacked three times during the game, Miller didn’t play a part in any of them. Additionally, he didn’t register a quarterback hit in the game and of his two tackles in that contest, one came following a short reception by seldom-used Steelers tight end Matt Spaeth.
Should Gilbert and Miller square-off again in 2016, it will take place during the playoffs as the Steelers won’t play the Broncos during the regular season. While Miller’s fantastic 2015 season will likely result in him signing a very lucrative long-term contract during the course of the offseason, his forthcoming fortunes certainly didn’t come at the expense of Gilbert, who is now perhaps the most underrated right tackle in the NFL.
