Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
DWTS gives Miller leg up in sack dance
Add dancing shoes to the list of equipment for football players.
Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller leads the NFL in sacks with five, and leads a defensive unit ranked second in the league against the pass.
What’s his secret? According to an interview with ESPN, it’s the time he spent as a contestant on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
“I’ve never put six hours into one thing every single day, not even football,” Miller said. “We practice for two hours. [Dancing] made me consistent. It made me have to come to work every single day and be consistent and work on something that I wasn’t really good at.
“When I come out here and play football, this is what I do. I’m a professional football player, so it’s easier for me to do this. I think having to struggle with that is definitely helping me here. I already had agility and flexibility, but the consistent part, coming into work and doing something that I’m not good at and have [dance partner] Witney [Carson] really depend on me to get my job done, that’s the correlation that it has on the football field.
“I’m not tackling guys on the dance floor. The work that you put in to be a great dancer has a direct correlation to the work that you have to put in to be a great football player.”
Miller’s theory is backed up by Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, also a DWTS alumnus, who said in May, “I don’t want to say [DWTS] made me faster, but I feel like it has helped me a lot with my shock absorbers. I’ve been able to drop my hips and get on the ball of my foot.”
Football players crediting dance for helping them on the field isn’t really a new idea. Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swann, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 19741982 and is now now the athletic director at Southern California, famously took dance classes and also gave them credit for making him a better player.
“I took several years of dance lessons that included ballet, tap and jazz,” Swann said. “They helped a great deal with body control, balance, a sense of rhythm, and timing.”
Good luck trying to get that image of William “Refrigerator” Perry in a tutu out of your head.