{"id":1315520,"date":"2019-10-10T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T02:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/marcus-mariota-vs-von-miller-something-has-to-give-sunday\/"},"modified":"2019-10-10T20:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T02:44:00","slug":"marcus-mariota-vs-von-miller-something-has-to-give-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/marcus-mariota-vs-von-miller-something-has-to-give-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Mariota vs. Von Miller: something has to give Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>

Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) sits on the turf after a play against the Buffalo Bills in the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Mark Zaleski)<\/strong>
AP | FR170793 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DENVER \u2014 Marcus Mariota could be Von Miller\u2019s elixir.<\/p>\n

The Broncos star linebacker is off to the slowest start of his nine-year career with just two sacks in Denver\u2019s 1-4 start under coach Vic Fangio.<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s quarterback has been sacked 22 times, second-most in the NFL and by far the largest number he\u2019s ever suffered through his first five weeks in his five-year career.<\/p>\n

The Titans (2-3) expect to fortify their line with left tackle Taylor Lewan shaking off the rust of his four-game suspension and guard Kevin Pamphile returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for the first five games.<\/p>\n

Miller lost his pass rush partner Bradley Chubb to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago, and the Broncos are moving him around more as a result, although Fangio cracked that unless he could change Miller\u2019s No. 58 jersey opponents will know where he is at all times.<\/p>\n

No matter where he lines up, Miller is dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be very conscious of him,\u201d Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. \u201cVon, I\u2019ve known him since he\u2019s been a young player coming out of college. Very disruptive, explosive and instinctive football player that can wreck plays before they get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller hasn\u2019t had the immediate impact everyone expected when Fangio arrived in Denver, but the Super Bowl 50 MVP this week sacked the notion the two have a rocky relationship over his head coach\u2019s constant critiques.<\/p>\n

Another fan of Fangio\u2019s frankness is general manager John Elway, who said on his weekly 850 KOA show that \u201ceverybody needs to be challenged. When you\u2019re going through tough times like we are right now, your great players have to play great. That\u2019s why what I like about Vic is he\u2019s challenging everybody. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re Von Miller or anybody else, the 53rd guy. He\u2019s going to challenge you and push you and try to get the best out of you, and I think that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fangio isn\u2019t even Miller\u2019s harshest critic \u2014 that would be Miller, himself.<\/p>\n

He suggests that even if he\u2019s disrupting drop-backs or stuffing the run, what he measures himself by are sacks, and those have been hard to come by this season.<\/p>\n

Other subplots Sunday when the Broncos honor Hall of Fame inductees Pat Bowlen, who died last summer, and Champ Bailey, whose name will be added to the team\u2019s Ring of Fame:<\/p>\n

PARKEY REUNION<\/p>\n

Fangio is glad Cody Parkey is getting another chance. The kicker whose Double Doink ended Chicago\u2019s run last season and led to his release from the Bears signed on with the Titans this week following Cairo Santos\u2019 0-for-4 performance in Tennessee\u2019s 14-7 loss to Buffalo. \u201cGood for him, good guy. I\u2019m happy for him,\u201d said Fangio, the designer of the Bears\u2019 defense who joined the Broncos after that wild-card loss to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

HOMECOMING KING<\/p>\n

Titans captain and 12th-year linebacker Wesley Woodyard returns to Denver, where he spent six seasons, for the first time since reviving his career in Nashville in 2014. \u201cI\u2019m excited to go back. Been waiting on this for six years,\u201d Woodyard said. \u201cI loved playing in the Mile High, and it\u2019s going to be a great atmosphere.\u201d Woodyard is a backup now with 2018 first-rounder Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown starting inside.<\/p>\n

BALL SECURITY<\/p>\n

The Titans have done one thing very well this season in not turning the ball over. They are just the sixth team since the 1970 merger to go through the first five games with just one turnover. Mariota is the NFL\u2019s only QB to start five games this season without a turnover. He has the NFL\u2019s longest active streak of passes thrown without an interception at 191. Titans\u2019 lone turnover was a muff on a punt return by Adoree\u2019 Jackson.<\/p>\n

LONG WAIT<\/p>\n

Filling in for Josey Jewell (hamstring), Broncos inside linebacker Alexander Johnson and had nine tackles, two pass breakups and an end zone interception last week in his first start since Nov. 15, 2014, for Tennessee vs. Kentucky. \u201cThat\u2019s certainly a guy that we\u2019re going to have to be aware of,\u201d Vrabel said.<\/p>\n

SHUFFLED SECONDARY<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 secondary has been hit hard by injuries. Cornerback Bryce Callahan (foot) has yet to make his Denver debut and De\u2019Vante Bausby went on injured reserved this week with a neck injury that left him paralyzed for 30 minutes. The Broncos replaced him with eight-year pro Coty Sensabaugh, who\u2019s eager to prove he should have been in somebody\u2019s training camp this summer.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) sits on the turf after a play against the Buffalo Bills in the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Mark Zaleski)AP | FR170793 AP DENVER \u2014 Marcus Mariota could be Von Miller\u2019s elixir. The Broncos star linebacker is off to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 19:24:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}