Paul Klee: Broncos’ Ware feels like he’s found the ‘fountain of youth’

DENVER _ The fountain of youth is available for purchase.tmpplchld Contrary to legend, this spring of juvenescence is not located in St. Augustine, Fla., nor did Ponce de Leon discover it. It comes corked, bottled, and you must ignore the price tag.tmpplchld “It’s expensive,” DeMarcus Ware said. When I asked for more detail, the Broncos star revealed a tidy secret that threatens to turn this season into a History Channel special and send anti-aging experts to a southwest region in France.tmpplchld “On Thursday nights I have a glass of wine,” he said.tmpplchld So that’s the elusive fountain of youth?tmpplchld “That’s right. A 1982 Bordeaux.”tmpplchld The Broncos star pass rusher was joking, but only kind of.tmpplchld When Ware copped his metaphorical fountain of youth before this season _ a vintage from his birth year _ the Broncos star did so as a reward to himself.tmpplchld On Thursday nights he pours a glass. By then Ware is finished with his obsessive film study, a review of 40 snaps with almost every fathomable situation he could face the next Sunday. This Sunday at Sports Authority Field, when Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater encounters third-and-long, Ware has seen over three dozen episodes of that scenario and filed them away in his mind’s library.tmpplchld Hence, film study is his time machine, a glass of red the destination.tmpplchld The age of football stars is a big thing around here lately, even if the real world chuckles at the notion of a 30-something being old, washed up, over the hill. But the NFL is not the real world, more of a discriminatory planet where 30-year-old running backs and linebackers are yesterday’s cuts. Football years are like dog years, multiplied by seven and rounded up.tmpplchld Then September happened, and Tom Brady, at 38, won AFC offensive player of the month, and Ware, at 33, won AFC defensive player of the month _ for the first time in his 11 seasons, a bizarre statistic considering a resume that includes eight Pro Bowls and membership on the all-decade team of the 2000s.tmpplchld “DeMarcus, he’s playing like he’s 22,” said Broncos rookie Shane Ray, who is actually 22.tmpplchld All those studies suggesting red wine can slow the aging process? Ware assured the secret isn’t actually corked in a bottle, but stored on his team-issued iPad.tmpplchld He has 3.5 sacks and 21 quarterback hurries, tied with cohort Von Miller for the NFL lead. If those numbers aren’t enough to rattle a quarterback, the detail of his film study should. Knowledge is power, and Ware’s memory squats 900 pounds.tmpplchld During one game this season, Ware told Ray the opposing center was rocking backward just before he snapped the ball. During another game, at halftime, the veteran told the rookie the opposing quarterback would lean on his heels the instant before the snap. Watch for that in the second half, Ware advised.tmpplchld “He does enough studying for about four or five of us,” Miller said.tmpplchld During a game against San Francisco in which Ware scored three sacks, he had noticed that left tackle Joe Staley, a particularly athletic offensive tackle, would spin to stop Ware’s rush. Ware feigned a spin move, Staley bought it, and the next exit was 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.tmpplchld “There is a lot more dedication to film later on your career,” Ware said. “If you really want to excel, you start paying attention to the small things. The little, small things are in film study.”tmpplchld It wasn’t until Ware’s third season of pro football that he devoted hours each week to rewinding tape. (The next season he had 20 sacks, a career high.) Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis invited him to one of his private sessions, a gesture Ware now pays forward by extending the same invitation to Ray and other young Broncos.tmpplchld “(Back then) I’m looking at it like: ‘I don’t see anything!’ ” Ware said. “It’s the same thing they tell me (now): ‘I don’t see it! I don’t see it!’ I go in there and tell Lerentee (McCray, another pass rusher) and the light bulb comes on: ‘I see it!’ “tmpplchld Half the time, Ware is simply setting up a lineman for his next move. All the time, he tomahawk chops at the quarterback’s arm to knock the football free.tmpplchld “How he wasn’t a defensive player of the month (in Dallas) amazes me,” Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. “That’s Jerry Jones’ problem, I guess.”tmpplchld With 130.5 career sacks, Ware needs 70 to break the career record held by Bruce Smith. Ware has averaged 12.5 over his past five seasons, and, on that pace, would overtake the record at age 38, if he sticks around that long. Smith played to age 40, and the next three guys on the career-sacks list _ Reggie White, Kevin Greene and Chris Doleman _ played to 39, 37 and 38, respectively. With two more sacks, Ware ties Lawrence Taylor with 132.5, good for 11th all-time.tmpplchld “It’s going to be exciting to see him again and play against him and make him get his money’s worth,” Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson said.tmpplchld If it’s not attention to detail keeping Ware young _ in football years, of course _ it’s time-traveling back with his traditional pregame song, “Eye of the Tiger,” or giving a pregame speech to the Englewood High football team recently, similar to when Bo Jackson spoke to his Boys and Girls Club in Alabama.tmpplchld “I do feel like I’ve found that fountain of youth,” Ware said. “It feels good.”tmpplchld Or it’s popping the cork on a specific vintage he purchased before this season _ with the expectation he would find reason to celebrate.tmpplchld “I just feel like I opened a 1982 bottle of wine and I’m drinking it right now,” he said.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)tmpplchld Visit The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at www.gazette.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld