AFC Notes: Courtland Sutton, Kadarius Toney, Aidan O’Connell, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton has dealt with trade rumors but has continued to be one of the top receivers in the league this year, attributing his performance to getting stronger in the offseason.

“The past couple of years, there really hasn’t been any drastic change in my play. And I wanted to see something different,” Sutton said, via Troy Renck of Denver7.com. “So, I couldn’t do the same thing and hope something was going to change.”

“There’s more to come,” Sutton added.

• Broncos HC Sean Payton said OLB Nik Bonitto is not an IR candidate but doesn’t have a timetable to return from his knee injury. (Chris Tomasson)

Chiefs

Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney has caught a lot of flak for lining up in the neutral zone and nullifying his game-winning touchdown on a lateral from TE Travis Kelce. There have even been calls for Kansas City to cut Toney, who’s struggled to live up to expectations. Little to none of it has come from inside the locker room, however, with Kelce coming to Toney’s defense and reiterating his confidence in him. 

“You can say what you want about him being in the neutral zone here and there. He lined up like that all game, didn’t get warned, blah blah blah, don’t call it in that position. You can’t put it in the refs’ hands in that position,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast with his brother. “We talk about plays like this all the time, especially in critical moments. I love KT. If we get the opportunity again I’m going to throw that shit right to his chest again. Hopefully it gets there. I got all the faith in the world in that dude. He’s one of our best players. He’s one of the best players we’ve got with the ball in his hands. You turn on the film, you watch what he does when the ball is in his hands and you can’t tell me you don’t want that guy on your team. Everybody hating on KT right now, I’m not trying to hear that. You can fucking miss me with it. I’m trusting in one-nine every time he’s out on the field.”

Raiders

Raiders WR Davante Adams feels embarrassed to be a part of their 3-0 loss to the Vikings.

“You want to be a part of history,” Adams said, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “But never that type… I mean, it’s embarrassing, too. Not that that’s the main thing that drives it, but you walk off that field and you’ve got a lot of fans that pay their money to come to see you play and you go up and put up a goose egg. It almost looked worse that they only scored three [points], too. You’ve seen plenty of teams win, 20, 22-0, whatever, but when the other team wins by three and they only score three, it just looks horrible. So, hopefully we don’t make any more history like that on this side.”

Adams feels their offense couldn’t find its rhythm and struggled in all facets. 

“I mean, I’m moving past it,” Adams said. “I’m not over it, but I’m past it, for sure. It’s just, we couldn’t really get a rhythm, couldn’t establish really anything in the game. Once we did, we obviously turned the ball over and we just didn’t make it easy on ourselves. So, that’s what you’re going to get if you can’t convert third down. If you can’t have explosive plays, it’s going to look like that.”

Raiders fourth-round QB Aidan O’Connell said defenses are limiting their opportunities downfield and they must find a way to adjust. 

“Teams have played a lot of two-high [safeties] against us and try to limit our opportunities down the field because they know we have good skill players, and so it’s just trying to be patient, take them when they come, but also be smart with it,” O’Connell said. “It’s not unique to us, but we’re trying to find the balance of being aggressive and being smart.”

• ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler note there’s a strong sense that Raiders interim HC Antonio Pierce and interim GM Champ Kelly have legitimate chances to stick and get the full-time jobs. 
• Fowler adds there’s a chance the Raiders go back to veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo as the starter if O’Connell struggles again in Thursday’s game against the Chargers.