Broncos
The Broncos lost their first home game since September after the Jaguars rolled to a 34-20 win in Week 16. Denver QB Bo Nix thinks this game can be a nice reset for them now instead of suffering a similar fate in the postseason.
“We got hit in the mouth today, and they played a good game and we let it get away,” Nix said, via the team’s website. “But you’d rather have it hit you now than in the first round of playoffs. I wouldn’t call it a wake-up call, because we were playing well. It’s just one of those that will reset you and put you back in, get you back to where you need to be. It’ll put you in a good mindset if you’ll let it. You can’t let this one linger. We have to move on and attack this week on just a short couple of days.”
Chargers
Chargers S Derwin James spoke about the team being one of the underrated groups that is headed to the playoffs.
“We want it like that,” James said in the locker room Sunday, via Daniel Popper of The Athletic. “I don’t want to be the team that I wake up and my whole family is over-calling me, ‘Hey, I just seen you on TV. They say y’all are gonna win the Super Bowl.’ We don’t want that. We don’t need that. We want to be the underdog. We want to continue to work. We haven’t done nothing to earn that, you feel me? We haven’t won a Super Bowl around here, so we can’t be like, ‘Oh, we’re the team to beat.’ Nah. Leave it how it is.”
On the offensive side of the ball, HC Jim Harbaugh thinks that QB Justin Herbert is having one of the greatest seasons of all time at the position.
“It’s definitely MVP-caliber,” Harbaugh said of Herbert’s play. “He’s doing things game after game that are reserved for only the best that are in the game and have ever played the game.”
- Chargers S Tony Jefferson was fined $7,111 for a hit on a defenseless player and another $7,111 for an obscene gesture.
Raiders
Texans DE Will Anderson, Jr. said that rookie RB Ashton Jeanty impressed him to the point where he had to pause and witness how good he can be.
“I’ve never been in the game and actually like stopped and was like: ‘man this man’s a dog,’” Anderson said, via PFT. “A ton of respect for him. He’s going to be a really good player in this league. Tough back, tough runner, hard to bring down. He’s going to do a lot of great things in this league.”
- Albert Breer mentioned Chargers’ DC Jesse Minter as a name to keep an eye on should the team move on from HC Pete Carroll this offseason, given the success that former Michigan coaches Jim Harbaugh and Mike Macdonald have had with the Chargers and Seahawks, respectively.
- Raiders CB Kyu Blu Kelly was fined $5,722 for a violent gesture, and LB Devin White was fined $6,500 for taunting.
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