Chiefs’ Mitchell Schwartz ready to clash with Broncos’ one-man wrecking crew: Von Miller
At any point Monday night, Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller may explode across the line of scrimmage, taking a route with the type of wicked bend that would even make David Beckham blush and accelerating through the chest of young Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes with such force that already overzealous NFL rules protecting quarterbacks may suddenly seem inadequate.
Miller, a three-time all-pro and six-time Pro Bowl selection, routinely makes those sorts of jarring plays. Except, he hasn’t done as much of it against the Chiefs since right tackle Mitchell Schwartz came aboard.
That individual matchup, a game within the game featuring two of the NFL’s best on the stage of Monday Night Football, could play a pivotal role in the game’s outcome.
“They go back and forth and they challenge each other,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “It’s kind of a fun matchup to watch there. They get after each other. I was there for the (Jon) Runyan-(Michael) Strahan deal, and it’s kind of like that. Von is a heck of a player. He’s going to get you every once in a while, and Mitch is a good player. It’s a fun matchup.”
Part of what allows Reid to look at it as “fun” has been Schwartz’s success slowing down one of the most dominant edge defenders of this generation. In six games against Schwartz, including two when Schwartz was with the Cleveland Browns, Miller has 4 1/2 sacks. But he hasn’t had a sack in the Broncos’ past three games against the divisional-rival Chiefs.
Miller, who entered this week tied for the NFL lead with four sacks in three games, referred to Schwartz as “the best right tackle in the AFC West.” The two exchanged jerseys following a game on Christmas Day 2016, a mutual sign of respect.
“I’m a fan of the game, and I know great players,” Miller said during a conference call this week. “Mitch is a great player. It’s funny how you get three All-Pros but no Pro Bowls. That’s the weirdest (crap) ever. He’s a great player. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
While Reid called the matchup fun, Schwartz gave a bit of a side-eye when asked about looking forward to the first of his twice-annual clashes with Miller. Schwartz, who has been selected an All-Pro by both Pro Football Focus and the Associated Press, called preparing for Miller a “stressful week.”
“You don’t necessarily look forward to it in the sense that he’s so good,” Schwartz said. “It’s hard to — you look forward to the outcome and kind of how it plays. That’s kind of the barometer of how you are as a tackle, to go against him and see if you can have success or not. I mean, success is pretty fleeting against him, so you can kind of only hold it at bay for so long.”
Miller, the MVP of Super Bowl 50, has had six seasons of double-digit sack totals since entering the league in 2011. He has also forced 24 fumbles, scored a pair of defensive touchdowns and caused general havoc.
Schwartz said the competition between him and Miller is great and always above-board and free of cheap shots . He downplayed any insinuation that he is a Miller-stopper, calling success against Miller “fleeting.”
“It’s going to be in the pass game and in the run game, too,” Schwartz said. “I think that gets slept on a little bit just because of how dynamic he is as a pass rusher and how quarterback-driven everything is these days, but he affects the games equally as a run defender. You see it with power. You see it with speed. You see with kind of his hand movements and the things he’s able to do. There’s really not many plays where he can’t make an impact.”
Through three games, Mahomes has been sacked just four times. Meanwhile, he has unleashed an assault on the NFL record books with 13 touchdown passes, 896 passing yards and no interceptions.
The Chiefs lead the league in scoring (39.3 points per game) and have averaged just shy of 400 yards of offense per game (398.3).
“Mitch has been in the league for a long time now,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. “He’s an experienced vet. He doesn’t take film study for granted.
“He understands that this is future Hall of Famer that he’s dealing with. Mitch will win some, and then Von will win some. At the end of the day, we just want to make sure that we’re on top of our game and we’re doing the little things necessary to help us be successful.”
Lynn Worthy
Lynn Worthy covers the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL for The Star.
