AFC Notes: Justin Herbert, Greg Roman, Patrick Surtain II, Broncos, Chargers, Texans

Broncos

Following a season where he was left off the All-Pro teams, Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II admits his play has to be better than it was in 2023. 

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I got snubbed,” Surtain said, via The Jim Rome Show. “I just think there’s a point in time where you’ve got to ask yourself, was it your standard that you wanted to put out there? I don’t think it was the year I wanted to have as far as the standard I set for myself.”

Chargers

Chargers QB Justin Herbert said he’s taking time to learn OC Greg Roman‘s playbook and coaches are helping him pick things up quickly. 

“I’ve done a good job of getting in the playbook,” Herbert said, via ChargersWire. “As the quarterback, you have to know the ins and outs of the offense, you have to know every role, you have to know it all. If [someone] comes to you with a question, it’s either, ‘Here’s the answer or I’ll go find the answer for you.’ But the [coaches] in the quarterback room have done a great job supporting me and I have felt comfortable picking it up.”

Herbert pointed out their rushing attack will be an important factor in HC Jim Harbaugh and Roman’s offense. 

“Selfishly, as a quarterback, I would love to throw the ball every time and understand that we can throw the ball downfield,” Herbert said. “But I do think that there is something to being able to do it all, to hold a defense accountable and to understand that a run game starts a pass game, and having a good pass game opens up the run game. So I think that complementary football that we always talk about, I think that’s only going to help us as an offense.”

Herbert added their offense will have an unpredictable approach by mixing run and pass. 

“One game, maybe we throw the ball 30 times. One game, maybe we throw it 15 times,” Herbert said. “As long as we’re finding a way to win and being able to do both, I think we’ll be a talented and successful team.”

Texans

Houston experienced a franchise turnaround last season by winning the division and a playoff game after a 3-13 record in 2022. Texans DE Will Anderson touched on the expectation changes and how they are focused on taking the next step as a contender. 

“Of course you’re going to see stuff like that, but I think it’s very important that we keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing right now is just us being able to control what we can control,” Anderson said, via CBS Sports’ Jordan Dajani.

“And that’s everybody showing up for workouts, everybody making sure that they’re honing in on their playbook and everybody coming to practice, competing and having fun, so when the season comes, we can go out and compete and win games, and we can focus on getting to the ultimate goal, which is the Super Bowl. But for right now this offseason, we just want to keep building that team chemistry and making sure that nobody’s expectations are higher than the expectations that we have for ourselves.”