The Denver Broncos host the Houston Texans on Monday night and that means Brock Osweiler’s return to the Mile-High City.
Osweiler went 5-2 down the stretch with the Broncos last season and he was expected to be the team’s long-term starter after Peyton Manning’s retirement. However, the 25-year-old decided to leave town and accepted a massive four-year, $72-million contract with the Texans and in doing so left the Broncos with a dearth of talent at the position.
“I wanted him to come back. I expected him to come back,” Broncos star linebacker Von Miller told The Andrew Walker Show Friday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
Miller, who negotiated a new six-year, $114.5-million contract for himself in the summer, said he holds no ill will towards Osweiler.
“He had a great year last year and whenever you perform you deserve to be compensated for that. We’ve got a very demanding job so if you can take advantage of a situation I feel like you should,” Miller explained “He was competing really well and had a great year. It’s hard to bring a guy like that back.”
Despite the Texans sitting at 4-2 atop the AFC South, Osweiler has struggled in his first year in Houston throwing for only 233.66 yards per game with eight touchdowns, eight interceptions, two fumbles and a 74.1 QB rating.
Miller’s 7.5 sacks currently ranks second in the NFL and the Super Bowl 50 MVP plans on making Monday’s game a miserable experience for his former teammate.
“He was one of our brothers,” Miller said. “He left the Denver Broncos to another team and I think that type of competitive nature it just brings it out of all of us when you’re playing a guy that you used to play with.
“That’s my job. It doesn’t matter if its Brock or Tom Brady or Andy Dalton. That’s just my job to get after the quarterback. That’s what we do on defence.”
The Broncos have dropped two straight but Miller is confident his team will turn things around.
“We’ve been struggling lately as an entire team but [Broncos QB Trevor Siemian] he’s been solid and I feel like as a whole we’ll be able to get it back on the track we need to be at at the end of the year.”
