AJ Cole – Syndication Server

Raiders P AJ Cole named to PFWA All-NFL Team, DE Maxx Crosby to All-AFC Team

As a member of the Pro Football Writers of America, I have a vote on their season awards. Two players who definitely got my vote for the All NFL and All AFC squads were DE Maxx Crosby and P AJ Cole.

The results are out and Cole made the All-NFL team on special teams while Crosby was named to the All-AFC Team on Defense.

Crosby made the All-AFC Team along with Browns DE Myles Garrett. But Crosby was snubbed for the All NFL team by Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson.

Since the Bengals are also in the AFC, it doesn’t really make much sense that Crosby was named to the All AFC Team, but somehow a different AFC defensive end made the All NFL Team.

Alternatively, if Trey Hendrickson is the best in the NFL, would he not also be considered best in the AFC? Make it make sense.

Either way, congrats to AJ Cole and Maxx Crosby on making their respective All-NFL and All-AFC squads.

Raiders 2023 Season Ballers

Can you believe it’s been just over a week since the Raiders season ended? It seems like a lot longer than that considering how much discussion there has been about the direction of the team moving forward. But, yes, this time last week we were …

But, yes, this time last week we were detailing the Ballers & Busters from the season finale. And that means it’s officially time to round up the season’s Ballers and the season’s Busters for the final account.

As the name goes, we begin with the Ballers.

Raiders 2023 season awards: Rookie of the Year, MVP, Breakout Player, more

It’s the week for All Pro teams. But while those teams compare players across the league to each other, around these parts we tend to focus on just the Raiders. Which brings us to our 2023 Raiders season awards.

Breaking: Raiders P AJ Cole named AP All Pro First Team, Maxx Crosby Second Team

The All Pro Team that matter most is out. The AP All Pro. Making the team for the second time in his career was Raiders punter AJ Cole.

Cole had a league-beat 45.1 net punting average. And his 50.4 average yards per punt was the most among those with at least 55 punts (75).

He also had the longest punt this season of 83 yards while his 34 punts stopped inside the 20 were the most of anyone with fewer than 95 punts.

Edge rusher Maxx Croshy had a stellar season as well. He just missed the cut for the AP First team with Myles Garrett and TJ Watt taking those spots. But Crosby did secure a spot on the second team along with Micah Parsons.

Crosby led the league with 23 tackles for loss, led all edge rushers with 90 combined tackles. He was also sixth in the league with 14.5 sacks, and seventh with 31 QB hits. All better than Garrett who was selected for the First Team over him. Watt led the league in sacks and QB hits.

Cole and Crosby were both named to the NFLPA All Pro First Team this week as well.

Raiders shut out of Pro Football Focus All Pro First team

While we await the AP All Pro team announcement, other outlets are releasing theirs. Wednesday it was the NFLPA who put out theirs as voted on by the players themselves. On that team, both Maxx Crosby and AJ Cole were first teamers. Thursday it was Pro Football Focus’s turn. And suffice to say, they don’t agree with the players.

Neither Maxx Crosby nor AJ Cole made the PFF All Pro squad. Meaning no Raiders made the team at all. Though Crosby was named second team.

Making the squad at EDGE over Crosby were Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons. Let’s compare some numbers, shall we.

Player	Sacks	QB Hits	Pressures	TFL	Tkls	Pen
Maxx Crosby	14.5	31	94	23**	90*	6
Myles Garrett	14	30	86	17	42	11
Micah Parsons	14	33	103**	18	64	7

*Led all EDGE
**Led the league

Crosby outdid the other two in four of six key statistics — including sacks — and led the league in tackles for loss.

But, you know, grades.

Making the squad over Cole was Bradley Pinion and Bryan Anger. That’s because Cole was not named first or second team. To the numbers!

Player	Avg	Net avg	Long	IN 20	TB
AJ Cole	50.4	45.1*	83*	34	6
Bradley Pinion	47	41.5	66	17	3
Bryan Anger	51.4	44.9	63	27	2

*Led the league

This has to be some kind of joke, right? Bradley Pinion had one of the worst average and net averages in the NFL among full time punters and didn’t hold the lead over Cole or Anger in any meaningful statistic. Cole, on the other hand, led the league in two categories and had literally twice as many punts inside the 20 on the same number of punts as Pinion (75).

Sure. That makes perfect sense.

Raiders Maxx Crosby, AJ Cole named to NFLPA All Pro first team

The awards have begun rolling in following the outstanding season for Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby and punter AJ Cole. The two have been named to the second annual NFLPA Players’ All Pro Team.

The team is put together as voted on by the players themselves.

Crosby finished with the most combined tackles (80) among edge rushers, tied for the league lead in tackles for loss (23), 4th in pressures (94), sixth in sacks (14.5), and seventh in QB hits (31).

Cole led the NFL in net punting average (45.1), had the most punts stopped inside the 20 (34) among those with fewer than 90 punts (75).

Here is the full NFLPA Players’ All Pro team:

Quarterback: Lamar Jackson (Baltimore)
Running back: Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco)
Fullback: Kyle Juszczyk (San Francisco)
Wide Receiver (2): CeeDee Lamb (Dallas), Tyreek Hill (Miami)
Tight End: Travis Kelce (Kansas City)
Left Tackle: Trent Williams (San Francisco)
Left Guard (tie): Joel Bitonio (Cleveland), Tyler Smith (Dallas)
Center: Jason Kelce (Philadelphia)
Right Guard: Zack Martin (Dallas)
Right Tackle: Lane Johnson (Philadelphia)

Edge Rusher (2): Myles Garrett (Cleveland), Max Crosby (Las Vegas)
Nose Tackle: Dexter Lawrence (New York Giants)
Interior Defensive Lineman (2): Chris Jones (Kansas City), Aaron Donald (Los Angeles Rams)
Off-Ball Linebacker (2): Roquan Smith (Baltimore), Fred Warner (San Francisco)
Cornerback (2): DaRon Bland (Dallas), Pat Surtain II (Denver)
Free Safety: Jessie Bates III (Atlanta)
Strong Safety: Kyle Hamilton (Baltimore)

Kick Returner: Keisean Nixon (Green Bay)
Punt Returner: Derius Davis (Los Angeles Chargers)
Core Teamer (2): Jalen Reeves-Maybin (Detroit), Brenden Schooler (New England)
Kicker: Brandon Aubrey (Dallas)
Punter: AJ Cole (Las Vegas)
Long snapper: Ross Matiscik (Jacksonville)

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 18 win over Broncos

For the fourth straight season, the Raiders complete the sweep of the Broncos. That’s right, the Las Vegas Raiders have never lost to the Broncos.

2024 NFL Pro Bowl roster: Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, P AJ Cole named starters

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, P AJ Cole named to 2024 Pro Bowl roster

The Raiders top two players and top vote-getters have taken their rightful place on this year’s Pro Bowl roster.

DE Maxx Crosby and P AJ Cole have both been named Pro Bowl starters.

Crosby makes his third straight trip to the Pro Bowl after leading the league in tackles for loss (21), leading all EDGE players in combined tackles (88) and tying for the second most pressures (86) in the AFC. He also put up 13.5 sacks and 27 QB hits — both top five in the AFC.

Myles Garrett (Browns) and Trey Hendrickson (Bengals) were the other DE’s to make it for the AFC.

TJ Watt (Steelers), Khalil Mack (Chargers), and Josh Allen (Jaguars) made the roster as outside linebackers.

Cole is also headed to his third straight Pro Bowl. On 71 punts this season, his 50 yards per punt and 44.8 net yards per punt are both NFL bests for players with at least 55 punts. And Cole leads the league in punts inside the 20 (33) among those with fewer than 80 punts.

Bryan Anger (Cowboys) made the roster for the NFC.

Both Crosby and Cole both finished second in AFC Pro Bowl voting.

3 Raiders finish in Top 10 at position as NFL Pro Bowl rosters announced tonight

At 5pm tonight (8pm ET) the NFL will announce the Pro Bowl rosters. Though, they don’t seem to put too much stock into fan voting, there were a few Raiders who finished among the top ten at their position.

Here they are in order of their landing spot in the voting both among the NFL and AFC:

Pos	Player	NFL	AFC
DE	Maxx Crosby	5	2
P	AJ Cole	3	2
RB	Josh Jacobs	10	6

The only AFC defensive end who got more votes than Maxx Crosby was Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.

Likewise, only one AFC punter got more votes than AJ Cole. That’s Jets’ punter Thomas Morstead.

The thing is, both Crosby and Cole have the player ahead of them in AFC voting beat in several statistical categories.

Garrett has only a half sack more (14) than Crosby (13.5) and three more QB hits (30). While Crosby leads the league in tackles for loss (21) and leads all edge rushers in combined tackles (88) — more than TWICE as many as Garrett (42). The two are tied for second in the AFC with 86 pressures. Only Jacksonville’s Josh Allen (88) has more.

Cole’s 50 yards per punt and 44.8 net yards per punt are both NFL bests for players with at least 55 punts and both better than Morstead’s numbers. And Cole leads the league in punts inside the 20 (33) among those with fewer than 80 punts. Morstead has the same number of punts inside the 20 despite getting 21 more opportunities than Cole (71).

Clearly, both Crosby and Cole deserve to start in the Pro Bowl at their respective positions.

Jacobs is having a down season and seems to be getting residual votes from having won the rushing title last season.

3 Raiders in top ten at their positions in NFL Pro Bowl fan voting

3 Raiders in top ten at their positions in Pro Bowl fan voting

It’s been two weeks since fan voting opened for the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl. They NFL put out the results of the voting today and a few Raiders players show up in the top ten at their respective positions.

Maxx Crosby — No. 3 DE
Josh Jacobs — No. 4 RB
AJ Cole — No. 8 P

Based on the numbers, that is probably too low for Crosby and Cole and too high for Jacobs.

Listed ahead of Crosby are Myles Garrett and Nick Bosa. The thing is Crosby has more sacks (13.5), tackles for loss (18), stops (45), and combined tackles (76) than either of them. Crosby’s sack total is third in the league and his tackles for loss, stops, and combined tackles all lead the league among edge rushers.

The only stat where Bosa and Garrett have him beat are QB hits.

Cole’s 45.9 net average leads the NFL, his 51.3 punt average is second, last week he tied the NFL’s longest punt (83) this season, he has the seventh most punts stopped inside the 20 (24), and has the fourth fewest punt returns (22) among those with over 50 punts. None of these numbers suggest 8th in voting is anywhere near appropriate.

Despite leading the league in carries (233), Josh Jacobs is still sixth in yards (805), and 11th in touchdowns (6). So, fourth in voting would seem to be judging him by his numbers last season.

Not among the top ten at their position, though probably worthy would be Davante Adams and Kolton Miller. There is a case that could be made for Robert Spillane as well.

Maxx Crosby — No. 3 DE Josh Jacobs — No. 4 RB AJ Cole — No. 8 P

Maxx Crosby — No. 3 DE
Josh Jacobs — No. 4 RB
AJ Cole — No. 8 P