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M
ILLER ANSWERED HIS cellphone late
after a day spent at the Rams facility.
Another conference championship game
would be held in less than 48 hours. As
Miller listened to an interview of Ware recounting his
sermon from five years ago, he laughed. He was able,
all these years later, to transport back in time. Only
now he had another speech to compare to the original,
the idea of which he generated, before handing this
one to McVay.
Miller had started planting similar Super Bowl seeds
after arriving in Los Angeles when the Broncos tradedthe Rams’ 20–17 win over the 49ers. Miller, who had
played his entire career in Denver until a blockbuster
trade on Nov. 1 delivered him to Los Angeles, jogged
toward the sideline, a smile as wide as the moon spread
across his face. He wrapped McVay in a tight embrace.
Perhaps, at that moment, Miller and McVay shared the
same thought. Maybe they looked back to Thursday,
when McVay delivered what should now be known as
The Speech 2.0.D
EMARCUS WARE AND Peyton Manning
stood before their Broncos teammates in late
January 2016. They wanted the
final address before the AFC
cha mpionship ga me to la nd w it h t he force
of a haymaker.
Manning went first. Then he ceded the
f loor to Ware, a defensive end in his 11th
campaign who had never won a title.
As Ware started to speak, the locker
room went silent. After some rousing
words—“We molded a piece of iron,” he
said, voice rising. “It’s the most impor-
tant weapon that we have. It’s the steel in
our hearts”—he told the Broncos to keep
their eyes closed, then turned to a pair of
security guards who had been standing
nearby, out of sight. One handed him a
backpack, which Ware opened. He reached
inside and took out the Lombardi Trophy
that Denver won in the 1998 season and
placed it on a folding table loud enough
that it clanked.
“Open your eyes,” Ware said.
Teammates jumped up. Took notice.
Started yelling. Slapping hands. Bumping
chests. Ware even saw tears forming in
more than a few eyes.
After he was done speaking, Ware could
hear the camaraderie echoing off the walls.
His team did beat the Patriots, then top-
pled the Panthers in the Super Bowl. And
for Von Miller, a young pass rusher who
touched the Lombardi Trophy that after-
noon and would later be named Super Bowl
MVP, the push that tipped Denver toward
a title started in one place and with one
specific thing. Five years later, now in
Los Angeles, and now, more or less, in
the role that Ware once held, Miller needs
only two words to explain the impetus.
The and Speech.2022 SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSWALKING THE WALK
Miller had five sacks and 12 tackles for loss
in his eight regular-season games after
coming over from Denver in November.VON MILLER