As Broncos fans, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching Von Miller being held on every other play without a yellow flag in sight, especially when the refs seem to have a two-flag minimum on each of Denver’s offensive linemen.
But while Broncos Country may spend the night screaming at their television sets, imploring the refs to tune into the game, Miller’s not worrying about it.
“I don’t know, I’m just so used to — I really don’t pay attention to that stuff,” Miller said, via ESPN.com. “I’m just so used to laying it all out there and coming back to the line of scrimmage, getting the play and running it again.
“It’s hard enough to stay on the field and rush and do all that stuff, when you get caught up thinking about ‘did I get held on that play,’ or this or that, it makes me lose focus. I don’t even pay attention to it when we watch film.”
But maybe he should worry about it. A few more holding calls here and there, and maybe the Broncos cut an opponents drive short. Maybe it leads to a turnover, because a yellow hanky leads to a third and long.
If Von does a little bit of lobbying to the officials, he might get them to pay a bit more attention to the offensive linemen giving him a big ol’ bear hug.
But again, he’s not worrying.
“I’m not going to be the one lobbying for them anyway,” Miller said of refs’ calls. “I’m always on the next play, I feel like if I get my rush the way I’m supposed to, if I rush how I’m supposed to rush, if they hold me, I’m still going to be able to get there. … If I get into this game with refs ‘oh they’re holding me on this play, holding on that play,’ it’s going to take me away from helping my teammates improve and all the other stuff I have to do in a game.”
Hey, it’s worked for him so far, as he’s second in the NFL with 9.5 sacks. Apparently, that’s just what comes with a player who has generational pass-rush talent.
