AFC Notes: Nathaniel Hackett, Russell Wilson, Broncos, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos owner Greg Penner is behind new HC Nathaniel Hackett but is still expecting him to find a balance and get some wins in his first season with the team.

“I support Nathaniel and really want to see him succeed,” Penner said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN. “He’s a first-time head coach, there’s a lot of new things to get in place and he and I talk every week. I love talking with him about the game and he’s obviously incredibly passionate. But he knows we’re not performing at the level we expect to. But we’ve got high expectations for him in the second half.”

“We’re never going to go into those kinds of things, again I’m supportive of Nathaniel and really want him to succeed here. [But] as you guys know this is a week-to-week sport and we’re always evaluating things and our goal is to win as many games in the second half as we can. It’s not the start we were looking for, it’s been disappointing so far,” Penner added. “We have really expectations coming in, we still have high expectations, our fans have high expectations of us and we’re not where we need to be. That’s the challenge as we go into the second half of the season.”

Penner also commented on the early struggles that QB Russell Wilson has had in Denver.

“Russell has won a lot of games in the NFL, he’s been a nine-time Pro Bowler, he’s won a Super Bowl,” Penner concluded. “Russell knows how to win. … I think he can be a great quarterback for us. He hasn’t performed at expectations, but he’s a fierce competitor and I think he can be a great quarterback for us.”

Raiders

Raiders third-round G Dylan Parham and RT Kolton Miller commented on building chemistry and working with each other on the right side of the offensive line.

“It’s just everybody moving around and now we’re getting comfortable with one another and we’re starting to settle in a little bit more,” Parham said, via RaidersWire.com. “Once you know how another player plays, you can play off of them. It helps the whole offensive line. But that’s the thing, we’re all one as a unit. There are five of us, but we’re all one. So, once we start getting on one course it helps us play a lot better, so I feel like that’s why we’re playing well as we go along.”

“We’re learning more from each other and we hope to keep it up,” Miller said of Parham. “He’ll probably be there for a while. He’s growing a lot as a young player, as a first-year player. He’ll talk and the biggest thing is communication with all these stunts. He’s been coming in with a veteran mentality as a rookie, so that’s been huge.”

• Albert Breer reports that former first-round draft picks DL Clelin Ferrell and S Johnathan Abram could be available for the Raiders.