AFC Notes: Travis Kelce, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

• Ian Rapoport doesn’t think Broncos HC Sean Payton has been pleased “with anything he’s seen” from Russell Wilson running his offensive system. 
• Rapoport feels Payton has had to “scale down” his offense to a considerable level with Wilson and just wants to see his system executed as he envisions. 

Chiefs

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce wants every offensive player to hold themselves accountable following their loss to the Raiders in which they were plagued by more mistakes on offense.

“It’s not just one guy,” Travis Kelce said, via Adam Teicher of ESPN. “It’s not just me playing like dog s—. It’s not just us not being able to get the run game going. It’s not just us not being on the same page, passing-wise. Everybody’s in this f—ing thing together. Everybody at some point isn’t being accountable. Every single play is somebody not doing their job, and it’s me … it’s everybody on the team. And whether that’s prep, whether that’s having the confidence and understanding of what the defense is in their coverages, their gaps in the run game, how we’re picking up blitzes, how we’re running routes versus certain coverages. All the above. Everybody’s just got to f—ing do their job.”

“Throughout the season, we’ve shown during drives that we can be a high-powered offense if we don’t hurt ourselves with penalties, if we’re not playing first-and-f—ing-20,” Kelce continued. “Every other drive or every other set of first downs just hasn’t been a well-oiled machine like we’ve been in the past, and we just got to get everybody on the same f—ing page. Maybe that’s just getting into the facility and just talking things out together. Maybe that’s getting a few reps after practice. Maybe that’s getting a few more reps, mental reps with each other in the film room. Whatever it is, we got to do something else because it’s been pretty consistent that we haven’t been on the same page. We just got to take a little bit more ownership in what we’re doing. And I’m not saying that I’m out of this. I’m the main part of this, and you got to try and find a way to clean this s— up.”

Kelce commented on an incident that occurred with him throwing his helmet with HC Andy Reid denying an equipment manager returning him his helmet. The two had a brief conversation on the sidelines and Reid believed that Kelce played well afterwards.

“He’s looking out for me, and I love him for it,” Kelce said. “I didn’t go back out there and play good. He wanted to see the fire in me, and I reacted in a bad way. He wanted to just get the best out of me. And right now, I’m just not playing my best football and I got to f—ing lock the f— in and be more accountable for him. Be more accountable for my teammates. I got to keep my f—ing cool, man, because as a leader on this team, that’s not how you switch the momentum.”

• Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes after the loss to the Raiders: “I’ve got to play better, read the field better. … I don’t like losing. It’s about how you respond. I think a lot of guys are frustrated that we’re losing.” (Nate Taylor)

Raiders

Since firing former HC Josh McDaniels and turning to interim HC Antonio Pierce, the Raiders have seemingly turned their season around. Las Vegas was 3-5 under McDaniels and so far is 4-3 under Pierce — plus still alive in the AFC playoff race. As a result, Pierce has built a strong resume to remain as the full-time head coach going forward. 

Raiders CB Jack Jones didn’t play for McDaniels but he did arrive in Las Vegas after playing in New England, which was McDaniels’ inspiration for everything about the program he was trying to build. He explained why Pierce has gotten so much more out of the team than McDaniels. 

“Coach AP allows everyone out there to be themselves, and play football and have love for the game,” Jones said via the Athletic’s Vic Tafur. “When you have a coach that’s, ‘Don’t do this’ and is kind of strict, it takes the fun out of the game. We’re professional athletes, we’ve been doing this for however many years and we understand the do’s and don’ts. Coach AP allows us to play and you can see it through the team. It’s noticeable.”