There is one big thing that the Green Bay Packers offense has to find a way to do when playing the Las Vegas Raiders: contain edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
There likely is no stopping Crosby, so the Packers have to do their best to at least contain him and not let him wreck the game, which he has the ability to do. Through four games, Crosby is tied for first among all edge rushers in total pressures created this season with 27. He also ranks 10th in PFF’s pass rush win rate metric, getting to the quarterback on average once every five snaps.
“It’s his tenacity at which he plays the game,” said Matt LaFleur. “Obviously he’s incredibly talented, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy who works as hard as he does and can sustain that for 70 plays. He rarely comes out of the game and he’s going to give you everything he has on every play.”
The Green Bay offensive line is coming off a performance against Detroit where they were bullied for much of the game. When there are very few running lanes for the ball carriers, and the quarterback is pressured on nearly 50 percent of his dropbacks as Jordan Love was, it doesn’t much matter what the play call or design is at that point–things just aren’t going to end well, and they certainly didn’t for the Packers.
While Crosby is a force on his own, one noticeable difference between the Detroit and Las Vegas defensive fronts is that there were other defenders around Aidan Hutchinson who have been able to get after the quarterback. As a team, the Lions rank seventh in pressure rate this season.
With the Raiders, however, that isn’t the case. Las Vegas ranks 30th in pressure rate as a unit, and although Crosby leads all pass rushers in pressures, the next highest-ranked Raider in that category, whether it be edge rushers or interior defenders, is Malcolm Koonce at 108th overall. John Jenkins ranks 159th, and Tyree Wilson 178th, per PFF.
In a recent conversation with Packers Wire, Marcus Mosher of Raiders Wire had this to say about Crosby and the Las Vegas defense as a whole:
“Outside of Maxx Crosby, it’s one of the worst defensive personnel groups you will ever see. They lack quality starters on IDL, LB, CB, and S. If you can block Crosby, you can score 30+ points a game. But Crosby is so good by himself that he can keep the Raiders in games.”
Pick a category: points per game, turnover differential, third down defense, red zone defense – you get the idea – the Raiders are near the bottom of the NFL in a number of key defensive categories. This matchup hopefully gives this young Green Bay offense the opportunity to build some momentum and find consistent success from start to finish rather than having to play from behind in the second half.
But accomplishing that requires the Packers to contain Crosby. The bulk of Crosby’s snaps have come lined up on the defense’s left side, which would match him up with Zach Tom. I do wonder if the Raiders move Crosby around more in order to be matched up with Rasheed Walker, who is the more inconsistent of the two Packers’ tackles.
There will be times when Green Bay will have to double-team Crosby, but you can’t do that the entire game either. Tight-end chips will be important, as will not running the ball in his direction. The Packers may also have to be a bit more reliant on the quick game in certain situations to get the ball out of Love’s hands.
The biggest thing that the offense can do to mitigate Crosby’s impact is move the ball on early downs, thus keeping the offense out of predictable passing situations where Crosby can pin his ears back. This, of course, is easier said than done with a struggling run game and an inconsistent passing game, and it has given the Packers issues for the entire season.
“He is relentless,” added LaFleur. “If you think you have him blocked for a second and you let up, he ends up finding a way to swim you or maneuver around you and hit the quarterback. He is constantly hitting the quarterback whether the quarterback’s got the ball in his hands or not, or is just releasing it. This guy is a special player. He’s one of the best players in this league.”
If the Packers cannot let Crosby be a game-wrecker, the opportunity for the offense to move the ball and put up points should be there against this Raiders defense.