AFC Notes: Austin Ekeler, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs

Broncos

Broncos HC Sean Payton was unhappy with how quickly the offense was getting to the line of scrimmage in Week 2’s loss to the Commanders, so he took steps to simplify the verbiage of some calls and augment QB Russell Wilson‘s menu of plays of the wristband. 

“We always have a wristband,” Payton said via Pro Football Talk. “There are certain plays that are going to be longer. I’ll say, ‘Russ, let’s run No. 2,’ or, ‘Let’s flip No. 2,’ on the left hash or right hash. In hindsight last week, there are probably four or five plays that would have been easier had they been wristbanded, but we can still reduce the verbiage.”

Getting plays off in time was a huge issue for the Broncos in 2022 under former HC Nathaniel Hackett, something Payton has derided in the past. He says he’s been happy with the process up until Sunday but is obviously motivated to make this a non-issue completely. 

“Preseason was smooth, and then Week 1 was smooth,” he said. “We probably had too much with some of these plays. Looking back on it, that’s something we can correct on our end and be quicker. There’s that happy balance of getting it in fast, but also getting it called to the line. I’m sure we were a little bit heavy relative to the length of some of the plays.”

Chargers

Chargers RB Austin Ekeler still isn’t practicing but he feels like he’s making progress on returning from his ankle injury. 

“I’ve dealt with ankles in the past,” he said in an interview with Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon. “You’ve just got to get it to a point where you feel good, where it’s taped up and you can actually feel like, okay if I get tackled, it’s not going to be reaggravated and set me back to where I was before when I could barely walk on it. It’s nothing that’s going to be like ‘ah, he’s out for several months,’ [that] type of thing. It’s a day-to-day, week-to-week type of situation. I like the progress that I’ve made so far, so hopefully back sooner than later.”

Chiefs

The Chiefs offense has struggled mightily through the first two games of the season. Kansas City was missing TE Travis Kelce in Week 1 and the star tight end was clearly limited in Week 2 even though he played and scored. No one else has stepped up as a playmaker and the offense has completely lacked a rhythm. However, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes expects that to come eventually.

“We haven’t been great offensively just in general,” Mahomes said via USA Today’s Logan Lazarczyk. “As the offense gets going and we start finding our rhythm, you are going to start seeing those shots to Marquez [Valdes-Scantling] down the field, you are going to see him more involved in the offense but when you can’t stay in rhythm – that’s me included, – as an offense, it’s hard to get the guys the targets that they deserve, and that should get.”

Mahomes added he has to continue to be patient and not force the ball deep like he did on an interception in Week 2. 

“We get a lot more zone coverages, a lot more deeper coverages,” he said. “You look at the interception I threw to [Justin] Watson this last week. In previous years, that safety on the back side is not that deep, and not able to get back there. I looked over to the right and saw [the safety] open up his hips to the right, so I thought there was a chance I could throw it over the top.

“I got it over the top of the guy who was covering [Watson], but the safety made a play. It shows that defenses are going to continue to play back and make me be patient. I have to be able to do that, take what’s there, not have negative plays happen, and with our defense playing like it is, we will continue to score, and defenses will have to become aggressive at some point.”