Last season, the Denver Broncos had one of the best pass rushing units in the league. Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil made one scary tandem that helped lead the Broncos to deep playoff run. However, in 2013 that unit will look a lot different for a few games. Dumervil is gone after a contract dispute and Miller is suspended for the first part of the season. In their absence, it is up to newly signed Shaun Phillips to get the job done.
The veteran simply laughed at the idea of feeling pressure to replace Miller, easily one of the most elite defensive players in the league. Phillips has been in the NFL for 10 years now with 69.5 sacks to his name. Phillips is now the face of the defense. Robert Ayers and Derek Wolfe remain out with injuries leaving pass rushing duties to Phillips and Malik Jackson, both new to Denver.
The set of starting linebackers that took the field Wednesday were Wesley Woodyard, Danny Trevathan and Nate Irving, along with Phillips and Jackson. If anyone was nervous about the absence of Miller, they were not showing it.
"We've got some good pass rushers, still," Trevathan said, via the Denver Post. "We've still got Shaun Phillips. He's a great guy. We've still got linebackers blitzing. We got to put pressure on them, but we're not really concerned with that. We're going to stick within our scheme and try to make plays within our scheme."
The Broncos are crossing their fingers that both Ayers and Wolfe will return to the team prior to the season starting. If healthy, Phillips will be able to rotate between defensive end and linebacker, like the team had originally intended him to be doing. In his career, Phillips exceled in that type of role, recording 9.5 sacks last season with San Diego. He is simply concerned with just remaining productive in any role he is given.
"Whether I'm playing defensive end, linebacker, it really doesn't matter," Phillips said. "Football is football, and at the end of the day you tackle the guy with the ball. We'll be OK. It's not just about the sacks. It's about the coverage, and it's about the sacks. It's about stopping the run, because we all know that you can't get sacks without stopping the run."
Both John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio are remaining positive after the Miller suspension. He was the center piece of that defense, but both coaches remain confident that the next man will step up and the right combination of players will be found to have the defense back as a top unit again.