The Denver Broncos are in Santa Clara, Calif. this week for a pair of practices with the 49ers ahead of the two teams’ preseason matchup Saturday. For Von Miller, the trip has presented a pair of reunions.
Santa Clara – Levi’s Stadium, in particular – is the home of Miller’s finest moment as a football professional. On Feb. 7, 2016, Miller put on a defensive performance for the ages en route to a Super Bowl championship and MVP award. His 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles on Cam Newton will forever be remembered by Broncos fans.
Miller still has vivid memories from that performance, but admitted that things looked quite different in this return trip.
“Walking on to the field this morning, it’s a whole lot different,” Miller told the media in Santa Clara on Wednesday. “It’s a lot more red then what it was last time. Before it was just gold and black and a whole bunch of white, all the Super Bowl stuff. It still had the same feel.”
The feelings, are still good. They always have been.
“San Francisco has always been good to me. The Bay Area has always been good to us. Throughout my whole career I’ve only lost one game here. Preseason, the Oakland Raiders, the San Francisco 49ers, I’ve only lost one game here and have a lot of great memories for me, as a team and as an organization. San Francisco is good for us.”
The trip to San Francisco also gave Miller a chance to reconnect with one of his early Broncos teammates, linebacker Elvis Dumervil.
Miller and Dumervil played together in Miller’s first two seasons, 2011 and ’12, before Dumervil moved on to the Ravens. They were a dangerous pass-rush duo, registering 50.5 combined sacks over their two seasons together.
Miller credits Dumervil as one of the players and leaders that helped mold who he is today. He says it was great to reconnect with his old teammate and mentor, although he has spent plenty of time with Dumervil in the years since they have donned opposing uniforms.
“It was great to see Elvis. I was at his wedding not last year, but the year before. My family and his family are very close. I go down to Miami all the time. Whenever I was going down to Miami, I would spend time with Elvis and his family in Miami. I feel like he’s one of my blood brothers. He took me in when I was young and he basically showed me the whole script of bringing young guys in and showing them the ropes. That’s where I learned it from, Elvis. I’ve said it before: just with Elvis, [Former Denver QB] Peyton [Manning] and [Former Denver QB] Tim Tebow, and all of these great leaders that I had, Elvis was really the first one that showed me how to do it. It’s great to get doom and gloom back on the same field and it’s a blessing.”
It’s not the first time they’ve been on the field together since Dumervil left, however. They were teammates on the 2015 Pro Bowl team, and twice the Ravens and Broncos squared off since while Dumervil was in Baltimore. It will be their first meeting with Dumervil as a member of the 49ers. He signed a two-year contract with San Francisco this offseason.