Pressuring Commanders QB Sam Howell 'Absolutely Important!', Says Broncos' Vance Joseph

Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph faces Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell and he knows the importance of heaping pressure on him.

The Denver Broncos defense has one thing on their mind as they look to get their first win of the season against the Washington Commanders - pressure.

The Broncos' defensive line didn't get a sack in Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders, and coordinator Vance Joseph knows how crucial is it to get after Sam Howell.

“It’s absolutely important," Joseph said. "Last week, didn’t have enough pressure on the quarterback. The third-down win percentage showed that. Obviously, getting pressure on the quarterback and getting him off his spot and winning third downs are going to be critical in this game. In last week’s game, third down is where we kind of fell off. That and penalties. Winning third downs is always going to be [important] for us. That’s our priority. Then it’s possessions, and then it’s points. That’s always going to be important for us—pressure the quarterback and win third downs.”

It seems a relatively straightforward game plan, and looking at what the Commanders' offensive line put on film last week, it looks like a good plan.

Howell was sacked six times against the Cardinals in what will no doubt give the Broncos some confidence that they can get their first sack of the season when Howell comes to town.

For the Commanders though, speeding up Howell's internal clock is something that has a great deal of importance attached to it.

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In what was just his second NFL start, Howell got sacked six times and was also intercepted, but despite that, he rallied and got the go-ahead score against the Cardinals with Ron Rivera praising the resiliency of his quarterback.

“That's the resilience about him," Rivera said. "I think it is really a little bit of a trademark of his, how tough he is. He is a tough young man. He took a couple of big shots and one of the things he's going to learn is you can't leave yourself exposed like he did. He'll learn that and hopefully he'll learn that quickly.”

In the hostile environment of Mile High, Howell will need to have his head on a swivel as the Broncos' pass rush will be looking to ruin what will be his first-ever NFL road game.

Joseph knows the importance of pressuring Howell, and Rivera knows that his young quarterback needs to speed things up a bit and get out of harm's way.

Denver is coming...can Howell and the Commanders escape Mile High with a win and start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2011? We are about to find out.