Broncos DC Vance Joseph says, “Teams don’t want to lose first down because if they do lose first down, our rush comes alive”
“I think they’re trying to get four yards. They don’t want to be in second-and-7-plus or 8-plus, because that’s obviously a pass rush down. I thought last year we did a great job of basically playing third down twice. Most of our sacks came on second down. Third down is where they practiced their protection plans and slid to [OLB] Nik [Bonitto] or chipped ‘Coop’ (OLB Jonathon Cooper). Second down is where we made our hay as far as the pass rush. I think teams understand that. We watched it over the summer and the spring. Just getting ready for how teams are going to play us, that’s been my lesson for our guys the first two weeks. This is our new life. [Defensive backs], first-and-10, it’s going to be quick game. They catch a slant, now they’re second-and-4 and second-and-5. That favors the offense. That doesn’t favor us. They hand it off, they get two more, now they’re third-and-2. We can’t rush the passer now. So I think we have to understand how teams see us, and adjust how we play how we play third down to continue to win first down. That’s important for us.”
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Jaguars signed Travon Walker to a four-year, $110 million extension that includes $77M guaranteed and $50M fully guaranteed at signing, per @eliteloyaltysp.