Miller: Penalties won’t change tactics
In his first 116 regular-season games, Broncos linebacker Von Miller was called for 33 neutral zone/offside penalties.
That made Miller’s three penalties — all in the first half — at San Francisco on Sunday out of character. Renowned for his ability to study game tape for snap-count tells, it didn’t work against the 49ers.
But Miller won’t change his approach Saturday night against Cleveland.
“That’s part of my game,” he said after practice Wednesday. “I’ll be a whole lot better this week. … You’re always upset about it, but at the end of the day, I have 97 (career regular-season) sacks. Probably 80 of them came off getting a great jump. Yeah, I jumped offside, but quarterbacks throw interceptions, too, and you don’t tell them not to throw the ball downfield anymore.
“It’s something I’ve worked on and I guessed wrong. I’m a gambling man, and sometimes I gamble big. Sometimes, I win. Sometimes, I don’t. I had been on a great streak of being in-tune with the snap count.”
Miller’s one sack against San Francisco gave him at least a halfsack in eight consecutive games (a personal best) and put him a halfsack behind Simon Fletcher for the regular-season franchise record.
“Coming into the game, at the beginning, I was aggressive trying to get the sacks (for the record) out of the way, and that was my fault,” Miller said. “It was selfish of me to try to do that.”
Said defensive coordinator Joe Woods: “I had a conversation with Von, and he was definitely pressing. At some point, you just have to go on the ball (being snapped). It was unnecessary.”
Wolfe sits again. Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe (concussion protocol) missed a second consecutive practice. He was injured in Sunday’s first half but was cleared to return to the game.
“If you show symptoms after the game and during the followup on Monday morning, they put you in the protocol,” coach Vance Joseph said.
Cornerback Isaac Yiadom (shoulder), linebacker Shaq Barrett (hip) and cornerback Chris Harris (leg) also did not practice. Barrett and Harris will not play Saturday.
Cornerback Tramaine Brock was limited and could be available after missing two games with torn rib cartilage.
“Ten being the worst (pain), I’m probably at a ‘2’ or ‘3’ now — it’s gotten a lot better,” Brock said. “I twisted it too much (on the tackle). It was the worst feeling I’ve had with anything. It felt like my ribs were trying to come out of my body.”
Defending Keenum.
Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave is in his quarterback’s corner after Joseph said Monday that Case Keenum needs to be more aggressive.
“We definitely didn’t put our best foot forward in the first half, and it probably reflected a little bit on Case when it shouldn’t have,” Musgrave said. “We’re all in this together. We took a shot (downfield) on the first play of the game. (It) wasn’t completed. I love what Case is doing. He’s a winner. We’re looking forward to being much better in the first half Saturday night.”
International series.
The NFL announced Wednesday that there will be five international games in 2019 — four in London and one in Mexico City. The “home” teams are Jacksonville (which will play its game in London), Tampa Bay, Oakland and the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams. As a division rival, the Broncos have the Chargers and Raiders on next year’s road schedule. The matchups and dates of the international games will be announced in the spring.
Footnotes.
The Browns-Broncos game will be on the NFL Network and also on Denver’s Fox KDVR-31 via simulcast. … The Broncos are three-point favorites over Cleveland. Since the start of 2013, the Browns have been road favorites only three times in their last 46 games (1-2 straight up, 0-2-1 against the spread). … Per makeNFLplayoffs.com, the Broncos (6-7) have a 5.3 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason. Among the 7-6 teams are Baltimore (33.0 percent chance), Indianapolis (33.0), Miami (29.1) and Tennessee (25.2).