Denver Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware knew he had something left to give to the NFL despite his release from the Dallas Cowboys, the only team he played for during his first nine years in the league.
And when given an opportunity to do what he does best with the Broncos, and that’s rush the passer, Ware has taken that chance to the brink of something that has alluded him, a Super Bowl Championship. On Sunday, Ware will lead the top-ranked Broncos defense into Super Bowl 50 against the high-octane Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
“I never had any doubt at all,” Ware said. “Every year, you always think about, ‘I’ve got to make the Super Bowl. Everybody’s here. We’ve got the best team,’ but injuries set in. We don’t play consistently, but this year, you can see how all of those things, if we didn’t play consistent, if guys got hurt, the next guy stepped in and played to a level where it wasn’t just a starter name on the back of the jersey. They played that way, and everybody really wanted it. That’s why we are where we are, and that’s what this team’s about.
“Moments like this are why you play the game. Just being a competitor and a team guy, you can have the individual accolades, but that doesn’t mean anything. You look at the end of the day at what have you done for the team to make them better, and I think this right here is the point, the pinnacle point in my career. You’re at this point now. What can you do now to help the team out, to get to that next level?”
After being released by the Cowboys on March 11, 2014, it took him just one day to find a new home with the Broncos, where he has registered 17.5 sacks in two seasons and another 1.5 in three playoff games.
And Ware partially credits the release for his increased drive to reach the NFL’s biggest stage.
“When you get released, I played nine years with Dallas, you don’t think that, and I always tell the guys, ‘It’s a Not-For-Long league,’” Ware said. “You don’t know where your career is going to end up, but I’ve lived my life with people telling you what you can and can’t do, and I’ve kind of let that motivate me to do something a lot better or go to that next level, pushing me and the Denver Broncos were my next stop.
“You sort of use that. They tell you, ‘You’re 31, 32. You’re getting old. You can’t rush the passer.’ You let those things motivate you to play well. Then, you have a young guy like Von (Miller) come into the mix. Sometimes, the fire gets a little gas on there to fire it up. That’s what he did for me.”
To Ware, having to find a new team felt like waiting to hear his name on draft day.
“When you think about it with me, it was just an opportunity,” Ware said. “I didn’t care where I was going to get drafted at. It was, ‘Just let me in. Let me in the house. Open the door for me. Let me walk through.’ I didn’t think too much about where I was going to be drafted. I just needed to use the opportunity to get where I need to be.”
And where Ware wants to be is standing on the dais at the 50-yard line inside Levi’s Stadium hoisting up the Lombardi Trophy after a victory over the Panthers.
“Defense wins championships, and we’re not going to stop being aggressive on whoever we play,” Ware said. “We’re going to do what we do, and I think that’s been predicated by a guy like T.J. (Ward), (Aqib) Talib in the game. The big hits, the league has changed certain things, but you can’t take the edge off because we’re gladiators out there. That’s the way we play, and we bring that grit every week.
“Our defense has to play well to win this game, and the defense that gets the most turnovers and wins in the trenches, that’s who’s going to win the game because I feel it always comes down to defense. Defense wins championships.”
