Broncos

Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham is set to start Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Patriots, filling in for Bo Nix following his season-ending injury. Stidham is approaching the game as if it were any other. 

“I think what I always go back to — in any game, regular season, preseason, the AFC Championship — it’s still the same game,” Stidham said, via Aric DiLalla of the team’s site. “Obviously, there are implications and winner advances, all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, it’s still football. That’s how I view it. I’m not treating it any differently. I’m not treating my preparation any differently. I’m just going to go out there and play and be myself. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’m not going to try to be somebody that I’m not. I know how I can play, and I know the kind of guys I have around me and the kind of team that we have. So, we all just have to play within ourselves.”

Stidham said the entire team wants to make Nix proud in Sunday’s game. 

“My heart goes out to him and everything that he means to this team, because obviously we wouldn’t be in this position without Bo,” Stidham said. “I know all of us on offense and I know the whole team, we want to go out there and make him proud this Sunday.”

Stidham mentioned that he’s always approached every game as if he were going to start. 

“I think every week I’ve always — going back to when I was backing up [former Broncos quarterback] Russ [Wilson] — I’ve prepared the same every single week like I am the starter,” Stidham said. “It just hasn’t obviously been that way, minus two [starts in 2023]. My preparation hasn’t changed one bit, and that’s just kind of how I view it.”

Chiefs

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce said he can’t wait to see OC Eric Bieniemy back in Kansas City and thinks he will pick up right where he left off.

“I can’t wait to see him back in the building, man,” Kelce said, via PFT. “He’s one of my favorite coaches of all-time, one of my favorite people of all time. I’ve had so many unbelievable, growing moments under him as a player, as a person, and I just love the guy, and it’s gonna be awesome to see him back in the building and see him back wearing the Chiefs logo, baby.”

Raiders

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby admitted that he hasn’t much contact with the team since the end of the season and isn’t involved in the coaching search.

“I haven’t talked to them, not in the last couple weeks,” Crosby said, via PFT. “I’ve just been focused on my family, my girls and getting healthy. But, yeah, I haven’t talked to them in a while.”

Crosby is entering the rehab process for a knee procedure he had at the end of last season.

“We’re doing everything right, checking every box,” Crosby said. “That’s what we’re going to do every single day, one at a time. Every time you go into rehab, it’s a different experience and a different journey. I attack it like everything else. Everything happens for a reason. I know I’m a little psychotic when it comes to the way I approach certain things, but that’s how you have to be if you want to be great. I’m willing to run that race.”