Denver's sack machine Dumervil a pain for quarterbacks

His 6-foot-6 wingspan allows Elvis Dumervil to keep opponents at arm's length. He isn't so fortunate holding teammates at bay.

"All those jokes," the Denver Broncos sackmaster lamented with a wry smile and shake of his head last week.

He has been kiddingly called "Gorilla Arms" by fellow linebackers. Told he can scratch his kneecaps without bending over, too.

Wesley Woodyard, one of the in-house stand-up comics at Broncos headquarters and Dumervil's position mate, takes it a few feet farther.

"His arms are definitely the longest I've ever seen," said Woodyard, adding that he thinks Dumervil might be shorting himself at least 24 inches on fingertip-to-fingertip measurements.

"I think he can touch the ground standing."

Dumervil is doing both, actually, for Denver (6-1) heading into Monday night's showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) at Invesco Field at Mile High.

He still gets his fingertips dirty as a down lineman in passing situations, something he has done with regularity for years as a squatty defensive end. Yet with Denver's switch to the 3-4 alignment this season, Dumervil has learned to play in space as an outside linebacker.

And while his legs still generate power and speed, his top-shelf talent is augmented by arms that, well, easily reach the top shelf.

Sorry, Elvis.

"It's huge, in all honesty," said Dumervil, considered an NFL "tweener" at a listed 5-11 and 242 pounds. "I'm shorter than most guys I go against, and so it gives me somewhat of an advantage."

It has certainly been difficult to latch onto him. Dumervil leads the AFC with 10 sacks, league-wide trailing only Minnesota's Jared Allen (10.5). He already has four multi-sack games this year, against Cleveland, Oakland, Dallas and San Diego. And he's doing it in a position to which he's still getting accustomed and where he was initially skeptical of moving.

"It was kind of a question mark," Dumervil admitted. "I thought I did all right as a 4-3 defensive end."

The former Louisville star had 26 sacks his first three seasons, after all. But the 2008 version of the Broncos defense was one of the worst in franchise history. And despite Dumervil's ability to get under the pads of offensive tackles and play with leverage, he could be a liability against the run when engulfed by those same blocking behemoths.

Out went Mike Shanahan, in came Josh McDaniels and fresh ideas about how he wanted to defend, with Mike Nolan overseeing the 3-4 shift.

Around moved Dumervil.

"The reality is, if they can do it, it really helps them," Nolan said.

Once Dumervil got past the initial trepidation, he bought in fully, studying successful outside linebackers in Baltimore, San Diego and Pittsburgh to gauge how the best players went about their business. He had to pay attention to pass drops and schemes, and in practice, learn to become comfortable playing in space.

"It's funny because I'm talking to him about coverage," Broncos eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey said. "I'm not used to that his first few years in the league."

Dumervil also went about re-shaping his body for the challenge ahead.

"I changed my diet, man," he said. "I got fatigued a lot quicker in the past. And I felt if I could have more endurance throughout the game, I could be a little more dominant. That's been crucial for me."

He stopped eating late, cut some fried foods and sodas from his meals.

The end result: Trimming down from his 257-pound playing weight last year and adding eight pounds of muscle to get down to 15 percent body fat in conjunction with workouts designed by Broncos strength coach Rich Tuten.

Further, Dumervil began to do more massage and cold tub routines, following the lead of successful veterans like newcomer Brian Dawkins to better take care of his body.

"I'm a lot healthier this year," Dumervil said. "I feel stronger. It all comes from the offseason."

Nine of his 10 sacks have come in the second half of games.

"He's probably the most underpaid player on this team and has been for a long time," Bailey said. "He's a great player, and he gets better and better every week. He wants to be great and that's where it starts. He has a lot of want-to."

Dumervil: 'I'm a lot healthier this year. I feel stronger. It all comes from the offseason.' (Getty Images)

Having Dumervil attack from different angles has helped, as well -- long arms or not.

He's not only positioned up and down depending on where he's aligned but moved from left to right to disrupt blocking schemes and create matchup problems. He has attacked tight ends, tackles and running backs. His sacks are nearly evenly split on both sides. Seven have come on third down.

"To be honest, I think he's found his real, natural position," linebacker D.J. Williams said. "He's aggressive and has the strength and power of a D-end. But then he has the ability of a linebacker."

"He turns his weakness into a strength," added Darrell Reid, who also transitioned from a down lineman to linebacker. "They say it's his size, but because of that size he has tremendous leverage and natural explosion ability. He works hard in the weight room. He's a strong bench-press guy. He's able to get under guys. And he's blessed with those long arms."

Dumervil resided in rarefied territory before being held without a sack last week against Baltimore. Only one player since 1982 had reached double-digit sacks in a season quicker: Carolina's Kevin Greene 11 years ago, with 10 sacks in five games. Dumervil and six others reached 10 in a half-dozen contests, and only one of those predecessors failed to reach at least 15 sacks by season's end.

The NFL sacks record is 22.5, set by Michael Strahan of the New York Giants in 2001.

"Anything's possible," Dumervil said of the kind of pace he has been setting to date, reminiscent of his final season at Louisville when he ultimately fell shy of Terrell Suggs' NCAA sacks record by four. "But, at the same time, you have to continue to do what you do.

"If you start thinking about chasing things, chasing goals, subconsciously it takes you off track," he added. "I've been through this situation before, as a senior in college, and I wasn't prepared at that moment for that kind of situation, chasing records. I ended up with five games left not having any sacks.

"That was a valuable lesson for me for the situation I'm in now."

The state of affairs in which Dumervil finds himself overall these days couldn't be better. Denver's revitalized defense entered the weekend No. 1 in total yardage and second in scoring. The team resides atop the AFC West. The Broncos already are just three sacks and one takeaway shy of their entire 2008 totals. And coming to town is the Steelers, who, largely due to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's penchant to hold the ball while in playmaking mode, are 24th in the NFL in sacks allowed.

Dumervil also happens to be a pending free agent, too, coming off perhaps his best pro season and in line for a big payday.

The sky seemingly is the limit.

He might even be able to touch it without standing on his toes.