Broncos’ Road to the Super Bowl Getting Longer and Tougher

The news just keeps getting worse for Von Miller and the Denver Broncos. Never mind that the Broncos let Elvis Dumervil get away in the off season. Never mind that defensive end Derek Wolfe was carted off the field in am ambulance during Saturday's game with Seattle after suffering a neck injury. Never mind that Von Miller was already facing a four game suspension by the NFL for violating the league's drug policy when he was arrested recently on a warrant for failure to appear. Now, reports are circulating that Miller could be suspended for 6 games by the NFL. The Broncos' road to the Super Bowl just  keeps getting longer and tougher.

It's likely that we will all know definitively sooner rather than later exactly what punishment the NFL is going to dole out to Von Miller. And it will then be just a matter of time when we find out what affect Miller's suspension will have on the Broncos' performance on the field.

If Miller is suspended for the first six games of the season, he will miss the games against Baltimore, the Giants, Oakland, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Jacksonville. It's currently unknown how much time Derek Wolfe will miss,but based on the Broncos first-team defense in the first two pre-season games, this is a defense that barely looks like a shell of last year's dominating defense.

It's tough enough to duplicate success from one year to the next, and even more difficult to get all the way to the Super Bowl. But, then you start losing players to injury, suspension and the uncertainly grows even larger. When the Broncos walked off the field last January after a stunning and bitter defeat to the Ravens, there was little doubt in the minds of fans that the Broncos would make a serious run at the Super Bowl in the 2013 season. Right now, that certainty has been replaced by doubt, skepticism, and questions.

The defense has not looked good in the first two pre-season games. The first-team defense showed very little ability to stop the 49ers or Seahawks first-team offense. Now Von Miller's availability is a big question mark, as is that of Derek Wolfe. Dumervil is gone. Joe Mays is gone. Champ Bailey left the stadium Saturday in a walking boot. Rahim Moore looks like the same player that game up the game tying touchdown to the Ravens in the final seconds of last year's divisional playoff. This defense looks like it's on very shaky ground.

It's still early, and we aren't ready to throw in the towel just yet, but right now the cards look like they are stacked  against the Denver Broncos and the Peyton Manning experiment. Fortunately, Super Bowl champions are not crowned in August.