Broncos
- Broncos HC Sean Payton on K Wil Lutz‘s contract extension: “He’s earned it. … We were able to get Wil done. There’s a few other players we know we’ve reached out to.” (Chris Tomasson)
- Aaron Wilson reports that prior to signing with the Chiefs, former Texans RB Dameon Pierce had offers from the Bears, Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, and the Eagles.
Chiefs
The Chiefs went into a big game in Week 12 against the 8-2 Colts with five losses already on their record, all five in close games. For whatever reason, the ball just hasn’t bounced Kansas City’s way this year, but the Chiefs changed that in a come-from-behind victory over the Colts in overtime, making the plays they needed to in the second half.
“Obviously, close games haven’t gone our way,” Chiefs LB Nick Bolton said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “In situational football, at the end of games, both offense, defense and special teams, we haven’t been [the same] as we have in the past. This week was a different narrative — and we found ways to execute when the game called for us to. Situational-wise, we are working to fix that and get these kinds of wins in the back half of this year.”
Had things gone the other way, the Colts would have had a claim as perhaps the best team in the AFC and the team to beat heading into the playoffs. Instead, it was another reminder not to count out the Chiefs as Super Bowl contenders.
“A lot of the guys still in the building, the coaches are still the same, the schemes haven’t changed that much, so yeah, I have the utmost faith in getting the thing right, finding a way to string wins together,” Bolton said. “But our mindset has shifted. Coming into the season, we wanted to win a championship. Our mindset now, let’s win the one, win this next game, see if we can stack a few more in a row. Our full attention is on Dallas. …
“We’re not worried about a championship now. Our goal now is the playoffs. After, we’ll figure out what it looks like and how to get back to the big dance.”
- NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports Chiefs G Trey Smith is dealing with high and low-ankle sprains and is expected to miss some time.
Raiders
- Raiders HC Pete Carroll doesn’t think RB Ashton Jeanty‘s ankle injury is severe and was asked if it will limit him in practice: “I haven’t heard that it would yet. It sounds like there’s a chance that he’ll be ok.” (Field Yates)
- Carroll said he gave former OC Chip Kelly a lot of leeway with how the offense was run because of his resume. (Vincent Bonsignore)
- Kelly on his firing: “I am grateful for the opportunity with the Raiders, bottom line in this league, you have to win. I really loved those players. I’m a huge, HUGE Geno Smith fan; that was one of the best parts of this experience for me, working with Geno and those guys every day. But hey, we gotta win. I get it.” (Glazer)
- The Raiders also fired senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell, who was Kelly’s right-hand man. (Pelissero)
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