AFC Notes: Russell Wilson, Broncos, Raiders

Russell Wilson

When asked about Russell Wilson‘s 16 touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 101.7, Broncos HC Sean Payton said he’s been most impressed by Wilson’s productivity when outside of the pocket. 

“Those numbers are all good,” Payton said, via BroncosWire. “The most important thing is how we’re playing as a team and how we’re playing as an offense. The No. 1 job is to get us in the endzone. The things we’ve seen that I’ve been encouraged with are the off-schedule plays. He does a great job of working the pocket, climbing the pocket. He made a really good throw to [Jerry] Jeudy last week doing that — Courtland [Sutton] the same way.”

Payton wants them to continue limiting turnovers and points out Wilson is playing in his third different offensive system in as many years. 

“[C]ontinuing to look at reducing the turnovers, managing the game the right way and understanding who we’re playing and how we’re playing it — all of those things,” Payton said. “That transition for him so far — he’s in his third offense now in three years. Every day he’s working at it and working his tail off at it. I would say, to answer your question, there are a lot of things that we’ve been impressed with and that he’s doing very well. There are some things that, obviously, he wants to improve on, and collectively, that we want to [improve on] offensively.”

Broncos

• Broncos HC Sean Payton said TE Greg Dulcich (hamstring) is seeing specialists regarding his injury and is “making progress,” per Chris Tomasson. 

Raiders

Raiders’ interim HC Antonio Pierce said they are building a “mentally tough team,” which can run effectively and prevent the opposing rushing attack. 

“First and foremost, just a mentally tough team,” Pierce said, via the team’s official X. “A team that you see out there saying ‘damn, that’s how football is supposed to be played.’ Running the ball, stopping the run, having fun, doing it as a team.”

Pierce wants their team to show just how much they love playing football. 

“More importantly, the love and passion for the game,” Pierce said. “I hope that if you never get to come to one of our games in the stadium, when you watch on television, you’re like ‘damn, them dudes love ball. They love playing for one another.’ If I can get that, I’ve accomplished one of my goals.”