Broncos
The Broncos fell to 1-2 after a Week 3 loss to the Chargers, where they were out-gained by over 100 yards. Denver HC Sean Payton thinks the supporting cast around QB Bo Nix has been too inconsistent and has forced him into situations where they need the young quarterback to bail them out.
“I think it was too inconsistent,” Payton said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “There were too many minus plays. So yesterday was a day that I would say the job degree difficulty factor, it was a hard day to play quarterback when your average third down is third-and-11. If we’re not more efficient on first and second down, the best in our league are going to struggle with the numbers that we gave [Nix] on third down. The thing that stood out was not only the penalties that set you back offensively, but the minus plays. That has to be corrected for us to be a quality offense.”
Chargers
Chargers rookie RB Omarion Hampton is expected to take on a significant role with RB Najee Harris suffering an Achilles injury.
“I’m not surprised. We knew how special he was as soon as he got here,” Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh said, via ESPN. “Running back is an incredibly tough position. The way he’s fought and picked up the offense, we’re asking a lot of him… especially as a rookie.”
Even though Hampton will likely split reps with another running back, Harbaugh is confident with him being the lead back.
“He’s handled it all,” Harbaugh said of Hampton. “He’s picked it up and taken it on his shoulders. We’re really lucky to have him.”
- ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler could see the Chargers enter the trade market for an edge rusher following Khalil Mack‘s injury.
Raiders
When appearing on SiriusXM, former Raiders HC Antonio Pierce made headlines when saying it’d be “foolish” not to think Fox broadcaster and Las Vegas minority owner Tom Brady would share things he picked up during production meetings with the Raiders after having those types of conversations with Brady last year.
“This is unprecedented, what we’re seeing,” Pierce said, via ProFootballTalk. “I think I would be uncomfortable if it was the other way around, to be honest with you. Because you’re not dealing with just a normal person. Tom Brady is the elite of the elite, one of the greatest quarterbacks, one of the greatest players in the game, played against him obviously, student of the game. It’s not hard for him to watch a few things on a Friday practice or hear things in a production meeting and be like, ‘Hmm,’ and have tidbits. And you’d be foolish enough to think that he’s not gonna share that with the Raiders because we had those conversations about certain things.”
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