AFC Notes: Mark Davis, Bo Nix, Antonio Pierce, Broncos, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos QB Bo Nix has built a reputation around his teammates for never using profanity when speaking to the team. Nix mentioned he feels it’s important to keep things clean.

“I just believe out of the heart, the mouth flows. I want to keep my heart clean. There is something positive about the words you use. So I think it’s important,” Nix said, via Troy Renck of the Denver Post. “I just figured out that I didn’t need to do it.”

Broncos QB Zach Wilson thinks Nix’s demeanor is admirable and he’s earned the respect of his teammates. 

“Good by him for sticking to his values and what he believes in. It’s cool,” Wilson said. “He’s a great dude. Guys love being around him. He’s got all the Philip Rivers words in his bag. It works for him.”

Broncos WR Marvin Mims Jr. said Nix’s confidence has had an impact on the team. 

“To me, his words have the same effect. The big thing is his confidence. You can definitely feel it in the huddle. How confident he is in himself. Even in OTAs and training camp, he’s out there playing ball,” Mims Jr. said. “There’s some plays that we were supposed to be run a certain way and he would go off and do his own stuff, but it was just how he played.”

Raiders

• Chris Low reports Raiders’ interim OC Scott Turner could be a candidate to join new North Carolina HC Bill Belichick‘s staff.
• When asked whether Raiders HC Antonio Pierce and GM Tom Telesco are tied, owner Mark Davis said the two are not a specific team: “They didn’t come in as a team. They are individuals.” (Tashan Reed)
• Pierce has hope that QB Aidan O’Connell can play in Week 15: “He’s a warrior, he wants to play…if he has an opportunity to play, he’ll play.” (Paul Gutierrez)
• Raiders OL Jackson Powers-Johnson was fined $8,856 for unnecessary roughness (blindside block) in Week 14.

Raiders

There’s been some talk about Raiders owner Mark Davis mandating the coaching staff to select a quarterback with its first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Davis said there’s been a “misconception” that he’s making football decisions.  

“I’m very disappointed, obviously. I want to see progress,” Davis said. “There’s no excuses. We have injuries and all of those things, but your team has to figure out how to get around those issues. The bottom line … is it comes down to me. And, if there’s going to be a finger pointed, it should be at me because, again, I’m the one who’s hiring the people who make the decisions on the field. There’s a misconception that I’m making a lot of decisions on the football field, but I continue to tell y’all that I don’t. I delegate to the people who I hire. I give them goals. And then I get out of the way and let them try to do it and let the results speak for themselves. At this point, obviously, we’re not happy, but you have to go through the season and then we’ll re-evaluate. Right now, I’m not in that position of evaluating anything going forward.”

As for HC Antonio Pierce‘s standing as head coach, Davis declined to comment on the situation. 

“I don’t even want to talk about that right now,” Davis said. “We’re still playing through the season.”

Davis has been pleased to see the team show a lot of effort despite their losing record. 

“The one thing that this team has done is they’ve fought hard,” Davis said. “In every game, they’re fighting hard. That’s something that you don’t find all the time when things aren’t as good as you want them to be. That’s a positive, the way that this team has responded.”