DENVER _ The best player in the NFL is wearing a cowboy hat with a raccoon's appendage tied to the buckle.
He's seemingly and always on the brink of dancing, either a country jig, salsa spin or, if we're lucky, a Michael Jackson number. He's from Texas, as Wade Phillips would say.
"Am I on the podium?" Von Miller asked a member of the public relations crew in the locker room Sunday evening after his Broncos sacked the Colts, 34-20, in a familiar manner.
Yes, the man who once referred to himself as "Vonnie Football" is on the podium _ the tip-top of the podium. There is no player who should rank above him, no one who can blow open a Ziplock-tight game at the most opportune moment, no one who can turn a game with the flexibility of a yogi, speed of a minnow and pizazz of a Broadway performer. Not Antonio Brown (my previous No. 1). Not J.J. Watt. Not Gronk, Handsome Tom, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers or the other worthy candidates who make the NFL the most violent and riveting sports creation in the history of history. It's Von.
And it's not just what he's doing, but that alone would check enough boxes. In a Broncos game that looked like the other Broncos games, Miller again showed a defensive player can reign in a league dominated by quarterbacks. "He's completely unblockable," tailback C.J. Anderson said.
Miller, who never in four games (plus a Pro Bowl) had sacked the elusive Andrew Luck, scored a hat trick. He did not toss his black cowboy hat onto the turf, only Luck. The one that clinched the arduous victory at Sports Authority Field was a strip-sack, returned for a clinching touchdown by linebacker Shane Ray. Mile High erupted. It shook like a Red Rocks rave.
The Broncos are 2-0 and Von is No. 1, because of who he is doing it against and when it's happening.
Over the past four games, a reasonable span in a week-to-week league, Miller has faced off with three quarterbacks with a combined 17 Pro Bowls and three MVP awards. He set a franchise playoff record with 2.5 sacks of Brady, a Super Bowl-franchise record with 2.5 sacks of Newton, another sack of Cam the Man and, on Sunday, three sacks of Luck that ended the upset bid before Indianapolis could get it started. Right now Miller is the most entertaining thing in sports, a great being great. Scary thing is, he spent seven months not practicing football.
"Actually, he did," Miller said when asked if Luck offered congratulations when he finally sacked the Colts quarterback. "He was like, 'Good sack.' After a sack I'm not trying to hear that."
Luck is the only quarterback _ other than their own _ to frustrate this Broncos defense over the past 20 games. Brady, Newton, Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger (except for a half) were merely boulders in a stream bed that couldn't stop their flow, only adjust its direction. And now Miller can scribble Luck's name onto the list of quarterbacks who must be hearing footsteps.
"If I can see him coming, they can see him coming," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. "But they can't do anything about it."
The Broncos were up six with 1:42 left and Luck, who once led a 28-point comeback in a playoff game, under center. Von didn't get to the quarterback so much as he blurred to the quarterback. The Colts couldn't chip Miller since they needed the extra receiving target, and he used a hesitation step to burst past helpless right tackle Joe Reitz.
Nobody in a rolling sea of 76,379 was surprised. This is how the Broncos win, with a timely play out of nowhere, and, more often than not, Miller's sack dance accentuates the moment.
"It's time to close," he said of his thought process in that moment.
Peak Carmelo Anthony was must-see TV. Peyton Manning in 2013 was something out of Tecmo Bowl. The Forsberg-Sakic-Hejduk line offered nightly chills on ice. Von is those things, the reason you wait for halftime to grab another beer.
The screen on his iPhone is cracked so thoroughly it looks like a spider web. He bought expensive bourbon and boxer briefs for teammates as Christmas presents. Somehow Miller has crafted an every-man's appeal while, at the same time, rocking Elmer Fudd hats and studded cowboy boots in public. In an entirely unscientific straw poll of the Broncos locker room Sunday night, I asked nine players to name the best player in the NFL. Biased as you can imagine, all nine cited Vonnie Football.
"Can I give you a top three?" linebacker Brandon Marshall asked.
We're not solving the world's problems here, B-Marsh.
"OK. I'll go Von, Cam and J.J. Watt."
"He's '99' on Madden _ 99 swim move, 99 spin move, 99 across the board for that kid," Anderson said a few minutes later.
So when you play the video game, you play as Von Miller?
"Why play with anybody else?" Anderson said. "If I can be Von Miller every day, why not?"
The best player in the NFL wears a cowboy hat. Howdy, Von.
