One thing became apparent in Sunday’s loss to the Panthers and that was that the Raiders is not able to function at a high level if Maxx Crosby is not himself. He was obviously not right. And the Raiders got routed by the Carolina Panthers as a result.
No one really wondered if Crosby would play this week. He played through a knee injury last season that had him in the hospital two days before the game. That time he missed practice all week and was Doubtful for the game. This time he was limited all week and Questionable.
But it’s possible this time what he was dealing with was actually harder to fight through.
“It’s a high ankle,” Crosby said of his injury. “It’s shitty, but I’ll be good. I’ll be better.”
“It sucks. It’s unfortunate. I mean I hurt it literally the second to last play in Baltimore. Just part of the game, you know. Every time I go out there I’m going to try and be out there with my teammates. If I’m 100% or 50% it doesn’t affect if I’m going to go out there.”
Even a 50% Maxx Crosby is better than a lot of guys can do at 100%. But it’s possible that this defense can’t function at a high level with a 50% Maxx Crosby.
Every facet of this defense failed Sunday in the loss to the Panthers. They gave up chunks on the ground while Andy Dalton had a near perfect day through the air. Several times, enjoying lots of time to work.
The Raiders did have a couple sacks, but Crosby wasn’t involved in either one.
And when I say Crosby wasn’t involved, I don’t mean he just wasn’t the one who made the sack. I mean he wasn’t a factor at all in the sack. One was an unblocked blitz from Robert Spillane while the other was Christian Wilkins and Charles Snowden swarming on the right side to split the sack.
We’re talking about the AFC Defensive Player of the Week here. It’s highly unusual for Crosby not to be a factor to say the least.
It’s unusual for Crosby to come off the field at all. And he was on and off the field several times, which is a sure fire indication he was not right.
Without him, the defense was not the defense we had come to recognize over the past 12 games under Antonio Pierce.
“You can’t pinpoint one thing. A lot of things go on during a game. If you don’t play complementary football, you start slow, all those things don’t help, I know that.”