AFC Notes: Pete Carroll, Patrick Surtain II, Broncos, Chargers, Raiders

Broncos

Denver won their 11th game in a row in Week 15 after knocking off the Packers by a score of 34-26. Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II believes they still have plenty of things to clean up, which only makes them scarier as a contender down the stretch. 

“It means a lot,” Surtain said, via the team’s YouTube. “We just kept talking about it the whole week, how big of a game this was. We always say, man, we’re going to play in bigger and bigger games down the road, down the stretch. We’re not a finished product at all, we’ve still got a lot more work to do. And that’s the scary part about it. I just feel like we got a lot more work to do and just correct some things, but, man, this team is going places and I can feel that.”

Chargers

The Chargers came back to knock off the Chiefs in Week 15 after trailing 13-3 at halftime. Los Angeles HC Jim Harbaugh believes the second half was the best half of football they’ve played all season long, considering the context. 

“It felt like we were going to have to play our best game and I really hoped that,” Harbaugh said, via the team’s website. “I hoped that we’d come and play our best. At halftime, that’s what we said, ‘Let’s go play our best half of football of the season.’ And our guys did. . . . To beat the other team, but beat the crowd . . . had some elements, got to beat the elements, too. It makes you feel like a man. Really proud of our team.”

Raiders

The Raiders lost their eighth-straight game in Week 15 after being shut out for the second time in that same span. Despite the struggles, Las Vegas HC Pete Carroll doesn’t feel any pressure from anything other than himself. 

“There’s so much pressure that comes right from here,” Carroll said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “I mean, if you can even imagine, nobody can pressure me more than myself, and my expectations and the standards that I’ve lived by and worked by are so high that they’re almost impossible to meet. But that’s the only way I know how to live and the only way I know how to coach.”

Although the Raiders had another poor performance, Carroll doesn’t think the team has quit on the season and believes a better team just outplayed them. 

“I don’t sense that at all. I don’t think there’s that issue. I think we got beat. This is a very well-loaded team. And they just did their thing today, on both sides of the ball, and they really took it to us. We couldn’t stop their offense and get off the field on third down, and a couple penalties got in our way and they were able to do what they needed to do. They ran for a bunch, they threw really highly efficient stuff, wasn’t taxing for them. We couldn’t make it hard on them. And we couldn’t couldn’t get out of our way offense, we couldn’t make any yards. And so third downs and all that, I don’t think it’s some big psychic change that took place. I think we just got whipped by a really loaded football team that on this day had their way.”

  • Raiders S Jamal Adams was fined $6,972 for a facemask.

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