DENVER — This can’t help Denver’s struggling pass rush.
After not registering a sack in a 17-16 loss Sunday to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Broncos are expected to play without edge rusher Frank Clark for the game this Sunday against the Washington Commanders. Clark, who almost got to Raiders’ quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on a stunt, suffered a hip injury during practice Wednesday and didn’t participate in practice Thursday.
The veteran Clark, 30, had 58.5 sacks through his first 9 seasons, plus 13.5 more in 17 postseason games. The Broncos gave him a guaranteed $5.45 million one-year deal in June. He has been nicked up a couple times since the start of training camp.
Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is not making excuses. His unit must pressure Washington quarterback Sam Howell, who has been sacked nine times in two career NFL starts.
“It’s absolutely important,’’ Joseph said. “Last week, didn’t have enough pressure on the quarterback. The third-down win percentage (45.5) 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.”
So what happened last week with zero sacks?
“I thought it was a combination of (Raiders’ offensive) scheme and Jimmy played well,’’ Joseph said. “Jimmy didn’t make a lot of mistakes with the ball. Jimmy ran twice on us, so I thought he did a great job of avoiding the pressure, as well. When guys were covered, he took off and ran, which hadn’t been Jimmy’s deal.
“On first and second down, we got some pressure on him, but he threw it away. The ball came out fast. We knew going into that game that it was not going to be a game where he was holding the ball long. That wasn’t a surprise, but I thought we could have gotten more pressure, especially with some four-man rushes and some coverage stuff being good, but it didn’t happen. We have to go back and regroup and fix it.”
Jeudy returns
Broncos’ top receiver Jerry Jeudy, who missed the opener against the Raiders out of caution to his hamstring injury, was listed as a full participant in practice Thursday. That means barring a setback in the next two days, Jeudy will play against Washington. Jeudy was fully cleared three weeks after he was carted off the practice field with his hamstring injury.
“He’s a great route-runner,’’ said offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, the latest to say that of Jeudy since he was the Broncos’ first-round draft pick, No. 15 overall, in 2020. “You feel really good when he’s matched up man-to-man, so when you recognize that, someone you look to early as a quarterback. [He’s] a guy that consistently can get separation. The more receivers that you have that can win those one-on-one matchups, the easier it is. It’ll definitely be good to have him back.”
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