AFC Notes: Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, Josh McDaniels

Chiefs

Chiefs HC Andy Reid supported OT Orlando Brown, Jr. and OT Andrew Wylie despite their down performances. Reid said the team has gone up against some great pass rushers off of the edge and has made for some difficult matchups.

“Well, they’ve gone against some good players,” Reid said, via Chiefs Wire. “We do try to help them with chips like with anybody that’s in there. These defensive ends that we’ve played are pretty good and the two that we’re playing this week are pretty good too. That’s part of it.”

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy said the team isn’t making excuses for it’s pair of tackles, but they do acknowledge the need to help them against some of the league’s best.

“It’s not an excuse for those guys, but every week we’re going to get everybody’s best,” Bieniemy said. “Every week is championship football. Those guys know every week what they’re going to be faced (with). As a coaching staff, we could do a better job of helping them out as well, knowing some of the premier pass rushers that they’re going to play against.”

Bieniemy is preparing for the Broncos pass rush tandem and will do whatever they can to make sure they keep QB Patrick Mahomes upright.

“(Baron) Browning No. 56, the kid was an inside (linebacker), now he’s outside wreaking havoc,” Bieniemy said. “No. 53 (Jonathon Cooper), I can’t think of his name, but these guys can play, they get after the quarterback. So, we’ve got to make sure that we’re staying in tune and giving them the necessary help. Those guys know that in certain situations, help won’t be provided. They also understand that they can be better in certain situations, but as a coaching staff we can be better as well.”

Raiders

Raiders HC Josh McDaniels doesn’t view Thursday’s 17-16 loss to the Rams as a “step back” for the organization but that they must find a way to limit mistakes that are preventing wins. 

“I don’t look at it as a step back. We didn’t finish the game — that’s the reality, you know?” McDaniels said, via ProFootballTalk. “I thought we were ready to play. I thought we competed. We got off to a decent start and then we didn’t capitalize. The bottom line is, until we figure out how to stop losing games with mistakes that we do ourselves, then it makes it very difficult to win. So, you can’t really win until you stop from losing. And that’s penalties, turnovers, things like that that contribute to that. We’ve talked a lot about that. We obviously need to do a better job of coaching it and trying to get us to play better.”

McDaniels reflected on conceding double-digit leads over the Cardinals, Titans, Jaguars, and Rams so far this season. 

“Look, it’s 60 minutes, you know? Everybody will point to the last play, or the last four plays, or the last drive, what have you,” McDaniels said. “But there’s plays in every quarter that could’ve helped us extend the lead. There’s things that we could’ve done in all three phases that would’ve put us further ahead in games. And, look, there’s a lot of things that go into a result in a National Football League [game]. You know? I’m thinking of six, or eight, or 10 of them right now that could’ve changed some outcomes of drives either way. So, these are hard lessons to learn. They are. Like I said, you always play to win. We’re aggressive and try to do those kinds of things. But we’re 1-yard shy of a first down on the third-and-1. And they make a stop there and if we get it, the game’s over. So, there’s a lot of things we could point to right now that would’ve helped us close the game.”

McDaniels added that they must finish games more effectively when they are holding a lead.  

“We’ve got to be able to extend a lead if we have one and keep competing, not let our foot off the gas, no relaxing, and try to play the same way we were playing when the game starts,” McDaniels said. “So, just obviously, I haven’t done a good enough job of being able to get us to do that.”