AFC Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Jarrett Stidham

Broncos

• Broncos RB Marlon Mack will miss the team’s final game with a hamstring injury. He suffered a hamstring injury on the opening kickoff of last week’s game. (Mike Klis)

Chargers

There had been some early buzz about Chargers HC Brandon Staley being on the hot seat this season. However, the team has played well enough to secure a playoff spot and it seems like he has the support of some notable veterans for the job he’s done establishing a culture in Los Angeles. 

“I’m not blind to what the media is and what everybody wants and saw a lot of the people hating on him,” Chargers OLB Kyle Van Noy said of Staley, via ESPN.com. “I’m the type of person like, where it’s all good when things go bad, you can point out the negatives, but you also need to give credit when credit is due, and I felt like he deserved credit and when you lead a team that’s injured as bad as we were at one point and we weren’t clicking on defense like everybody wanted.”

“We’re building a culture here,” Van Noy added. “It doesn’t just happen overnight.”

“So many people try to doubt Coach Staley and his plan and his way,” defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day said. “We lost [several] key players and we somehow were in a winning position, winning record, battling it out every game.”

Raiders

It’s been a weird year for quarterback play in 2022, with big names struggling and guys who have otherwise been career backups or journeymen excelling. So naturally Raiders QB Jarrett Stidham beat his entire career passing yardage and touchdown totals in his first start in relief of the benched Derek Carr against the top-ranked 49ers defense. He entered the game with two career passing touchdowns and 332 yards. He finished Sunday afternoon with 365 yards and three scores. 

“I think Jarrett shocked a lot of people but he didn’t shock me,” Raiders WR Davante Adams said via the Athletic’s Vic Tafur. “We all went out there and we had a lot of fun today and it was one of those games where we rallied for each other and had a good battle with a really good football team. I am proud of them.”

“He did a lot of great things and I was really impressed by him,” added TE Darren Waller. “His poise, his confidence, the way he was leading … I always think back to April, when we were all learning the new offense and Jarrett had already spent time in it and was pointing guys in different directions and he knew everything.”