Tag: Maxx Crosby

Broncos vs. Raiders: 5 things to watch for in Week 12

The Broncos will go on the road to face the Raiders in Week 12. Here are five things to watch for on Sunday.

The Denver Broncos (6-5) will go on the road to face the Las Vegas Raiders (2-8) in Week 12 of the 2024 NFL season on Sunday afternoon. Here’s a quick list of five storylines to watch for leading up to the AFC West showdown.

1. Denver’s running back rotation: It appeared that Audric Estime might be taking over as the new RB1, but Javonte Williams quickly put that notion to rest by leading the backfield in touches last week. So, what will the backfield rotation look like going forward? It’s tough to predict — especially if the Broncos ride the hot hand — but it seems that Williams is still the lead back with Jaleel McLaughlin and Estime rotating in behind him.

2. Brock Bowers vs. Broncos’ defense: When Denver played the Raiders in Week 5, rookie tight end Brock Bowers totaled eight receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown. Bowers has been a bright spot for a struggling Las Vegas squad in recent weeks, and he will be a tough test for the Broncos’ secondary. “You can see how they made it a point of emphasis to give him the ball in any spot and any position,” cornerback Pat Surtain said. “They even have him at ‘X’ [receiver] backside and at his tight end spot at the ‘Z.’ He is playing all positions, and they are utilizing him very well. It will be a good challenge for us.”

3. Maxx Crosby vs. Denver’s offensive line: The Broncos beat the Raiders 34-18 earlier this season, but Bowers and defensive lineman Maxx Crosby were both problems for Denver. Crosby ended the day with two sacks and he now has 15.5 sacks in 11 career games against the Broncos. “It’s important [to know where he is at],” quarterback Bo Nix said. “He’s a really good player. He played well last time we played him even though he was a little banged up. I’m sure he’s going to be fresh and ready to go this game. One thing about him is his motor never stops. He’s a hard-working player. He plays every snap really hard, and he tries to get in everyone’s head. That’s just the type of style he is and the player he is. He’s really good. One of the best in the league.”

4. Broncos QB Bo Nix chasing history: Denver’s quarterback has been setting multiple franchise rookie records this fall and he needs just one touchdown on Sunday to break the team’s rookie passing record of 14 (he’s currently tied with Marlin Briscoe). Going up against a Las Vegas defense that allows 327.8 yards and 28.5 points per game, Bo Nix might be poised to have another big performance in Week 12.

5. Denver’s seeking first-ever win in Las Vegas: Since moving to the desert in 2020, the Raiders are 4-0 against the Broncos at Allegiant Stadium. “I’m excited to go [there for] a road divisional game,” Nix said. “They’re always a lot of fun. I know it’s an important game. It’s going to be an awesome atmosphere. It’s going to be a fun game. They’re going to have a good team. They’re going to be ready to go. Playing them again, I think it’s going to be a good game. I’m excited for the opportunity we have. Any divisional games are always important.”

Sunday’s game will be regionally televised on Fox (view the TV map). The Broncos are considered the favorite despite playing on the road.

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Raiders DE Maxx Crosby says doubt, negativity will fuel his midseason resurgence

Maxx Crosby is the leader of a 2-8 Raiders team and has just 6.5 sacks this season. And is hoping to use that to finish strong.

Raiders All-Pro defensive end Maxx Crosby is the leader of a 2-8 team and has just 6.5 sacks this season. But he says he’s far from done wreaking havoc on the NFL this year, and he’ll use doubt and negativity surrounding him as motivation.

Crosby’s sack total is lower than expected given his career-best 14.5 sacks last season and high expectations for the Raiders defense this year. The defense has been decimated by injuries though. The loss of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins is especially devastating for Crosby, as Wilkins was supposed to be Crosby’s equal on the inside.

That’s just a sampling of what’s gone wrong for the Raiders this year. Crosby appeared on The Rush podcast and had trouble describing exactly how bad it’s been.

“It’s been a [tough] season, to say the least. I seriously can’t describe the feeling, being part of such a tough year,” he said. “You couldn’t have told me this was going to be the result.

“But at the end of the day, seven games left — and that’s all we can do. Take it one game at a time, continue to get better and improve.”

Crosby has been fueled by team and individual goals since he arrived in the NFL, and he said that won’t change down the stretch this season.

“My goals never change,” he said. “I love the doubt. I love the negativity. It’s just another opportunity to rise, and I plan on doing that. Keep leading, keep showing up, keep being the example, and that’s all I can do.”

As for the Raiders’ latest loss in Miami, Crosby said he missed some chances to make a larger impact but still felt he played well. He also played every snap on defense, as per usual.

“There were a lot of opportunities. Not every game you’re going to show up on the stat sheet.”

It’s clear that Crosby wants to make a larger impact on the stat sheet as he’s accustomed to. He knows he’s still recognized among his peers as one of the best but wants the entire world to know, too.

“I know what I’m doing. The [other] teams know what I’m doing. The people that matter know what I’m doing,” he said. “Keep sleeping. I love it. I live for it. I plan on responding in a big way. And I can’t wait to do that.

“I love a challenge. I love it when I’m being doubted. I feel like I’m constantly being slept on and it’s my duty to shut them up. That’s what I’m going to do. And I love it. I love when they doubt me and I feel like I’m at my best when my back’s against the wall.”

The Raiders have had their backs against the wall for much of Crosby’s tenure. He’s also fought through an injury this season after having surgery in the offseason. He’ll use tough times as motivation, but when he receives credit, Crosby says the positivity won’t be satisfying, either.

“The positivity’s the same thing. When all the positive stuff is going, that’s not where you build your character. You grow in character when it’s hard,” he said.

Crosby will seemingly never be satisfied until he’s recognized as one of the best defensive ends of his era and in NFL history. That’s what’s made him an elite competitor since he made a splash as a rookie from a small school.

But he desperately wants to lead a winning ballclub. It won’t happen this year, but that won’t stop Crosby from wreaking havoc on gameday, as he attempts to turn negative energy into a positive for himself, his teammates, his coaches, his fans, and his legacy.

Maxx Crosby, fellow Raiders players voice frustrations over lack of organization

Per a CBS Sports report, Maxx Crosby and fellow Raiders voiced frustrations with the franchise’s lack of organization in a team meeting.

When things are trending the way that they have been for the Las Vegas Raiders, it’s only natural for team leaders to speak up and let their voices be heard.

It’s also to be expected that there would be some frustration involved when they do.

With the Raiders currently sliding through a five-game losing skid, star defensive end and team captain Maxx Crosby alongside several teammates were given the opportunity to sound off on Las Vegas’ current situation in an open-floor, players-and-staff meeting.

Per a report from CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, Crosby and his teammates addressed what they viewed as inefficiencies and deficiencies within the organization on a week-to-week basis.

After Monday’s coaches meeting, the team met with the staff and the floor was open for anyone to speak their mind. According to sources present, a few themes emerged. Players had issues with the schedule not being efficient. There was a lack of organization and “wasting time,” and there was a “lack of discipline and accountability.”

One source described the meeting as ending “uncomfortably for all parties.” – Jones, CBS Sports.

As typifies this type of meeting, the hope according to Jones was that the talks result in positive change for the Raiders during the second half of the season.

Ahead of their bye week, head coach Antonio Pierce and the franchise overhauled their offensive staff following the Raiders’ 41-24 loss at Cincinnati.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg were all fired after the loss to the Bengals.

Las Vegas brought in former head coach Norv Turner as a senior advisor. Scott Turner, Norv’s son, was elevated from passing game coordinator to interim offensive coordinator and Joe Philbin has taken over as the Raiders’ interim offensive line coach after previously serving as a senior offensive assistant.

Jones noted that this meeting was “nothing like one between the players and head coach from almost exactly a year ago.”

That pre-Halloween meeting saw Raiders players rip then-head coach Josh McDaniels for the way he behaved and how he ran the team. Raiders owner Mark Davis fired McDaniels just a few days later.

Crosby and the Raiders hope to reverse their fortunes as they report back from their bye week on Monday. The Raiders travel to Miami (2-6) on Sunday, Nov. 17 with kickoff set for 10 a.m. PT.

Raiders midseason Ballers & Busters

The best and worst performers for the Raiders over the first half of the 2024 NFL season.

This season the Raiders’ bye week lands pretty much right in the middle of the season. Making for a good time to check in on how things are going. Which is…not too well.

Each season the Raiders like to say how close they are to things going a different way. But this season that kind of statement might just be met with either some serious side eye or just outright laughter.

That being said, the cupboard isn’t completely bare in terms of talent. So, we’ll start with those who stepped up over the first nine games before we move on to the bad news.

Ballers

TE Brock Bowers

Easily the best rookie tight end in the NFL and he has arguably been the best tight end in football, period. He leads all tight end in catches (57) and receiving yards (580) and was named a Baller four times this season as a result.

He has elite instincts, route running, and hands and excels in yards after catch. He’s even shown some decent in-line blocking abilities. Making him the Raiders most steady performer on an otherwise unsteady offense.

DE Maxx Crosby

A high ankle sprain cost him basically a couple games this season, including missing his first game ever. But he still has 6.5 sacks in the other seven games this season.

Even though he hasn’t posted a sack the past couple weeks, he’s still on pace to approach 20 sacks on the season. He has been a Baller four times so far and opened the season and his three best games were against rival Chargers and Broncos and the team’s one big win against the Ravens in Week two.

WR Jakobi Meyers

This is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ situation. Meyers has been the Top Baller each of the past two weeks for the Raiders since Davante Adams was shipped to New York and Meyers had to step up and be the guy. This included him posting his first 100-yard game a a Raider in Week 9 against the Bengals.

Continue to the Busters…

Raiders 2024 midseason awards: Top newcomer, breakout player, best position group, more

It’s the midway mark for the NFL season. And it happens to also be the bye week for the Raiders. So, with that in mind, let’s dole out some awards.

It’s the midway mark for the NFL season. And it happens to also be the bye week for the Raiders. So, with that in mind, let’s dole out some awards.

This was an easy choice. Bowers has been on a record pace this season for rookie tight ends. His 580 yards receiving is best among tight ends and his 57 catches is second in the league at any position behind only Jets WR Garrett Wilson.

Not a lot of competition for this award. But prior to Wilkins’s injury he was one of the best free agent signings of any team this offseason. They’re hoping he can return this season.

He was benched four games into his rookie season. Now he’s playing at a high level as an earned starting cornerback. He hasn’t logged an interception, but he routinely shows great skills and sticky coverage on some very talented deep threats.

No Raiders players are either coming back from a major injury or coming back to previous from off of a down season. Perhaps that will change by season’s end, but for now, there’s simply no one who fits this award.

If you’d prefer to put Luke Getsy here, I get it. But, personally, I don’t think a lot was expected of Getsy. He was not nearly the Raiders top choice for the job and was somehow even worse. Minshew was expected to at least add a steady presence at QB to settle down the offense. He wasn’t seen as someone who would win games for the Raiders, but rather not lose them. And he hasn’t lived up to that.

Not only did he not jump in and take the reins of the offense in camp as the Raiders had hoped, he’s been benched several times this season as he has thrown more interceptions (8) than touchdowns (8).

When all else fails — and it has — at least the Raiders have their kick squad. Daniel Carlson and AJ Cole are still arguably the best kicking duo in the league.

You could also go with “Only good game” as the title of this award. That win in Baltimore looks more and more like a fluke the farther down the line we get from it. Their other win was because Deshaun Watson was so determined to lose it for the Browns. The Ravens game was the only game this season the Raiders actually went out and earned the victory. Not coincidentally, it was also the only game they increased their scoring in the second half.

There were many to choose from for this one. Just pick one, really.

Could go with the home opening loss to the Panthers in which they never led and Andy Dalton led offense to put up 33 points in in the first 47 minutes.

Maybe the Rams where the Raiders turned the ball over four times?

Perhaps the Chiefs game where the running backs averaged less than a yard per carry?

Or the Steelers game where Pittsburgh rattled off 26 unanswered?

Or the Broncos who had a 100-yard pick six and rattled off 34 unanswered?

There’s always this past week against the Bengals when the Raiders gave up scores on the Bengals first five drives — four of which went for touchdowns — and allowed a season-high 41 points?

Too many options to choose from to pick just one.

Best punter in the league. Periodt.

Yes, the best rookie has also been their best offensive player. Not ideal, but there’s no one else who is even a viable candidate for this award.

He won AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the team’s come-from-behind win in Baltimore in Week two. He’s been battling an ankle injury for several weeks, which has limited his effectiveness, but he’s still their top defender.

Ravens fared much better versus Myles Garrett than they did against Maxx Crosby

Look at how the Ravens OL performed against Garrett today, versus what happened earlier this season against Crosby, it’s a great litmus test

You can call the Baltimore Ravens offensive line Sarah Connor or Kyle Reese because they just handled the Terminator. In case you missed it, Cleveland Browns franchise defensive end Myles Garrett showed up to the game on Sunday dressed as The Terminator in honor of the coming Halloween holiday.

Garrett typically wins Halloween and set the bar for costumes even higher this year. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Garrett’s Terminator mask collaborated with Mike Castro of Madness FX, a former Hollywood costume design team.

But Garrett wasn’t precisely a nightmarishly fearsome machine on the field today, as he recorded only one tackle and just one QB hit. To his credit, his team won, and they pulled off a major upset, but Garrett was anything but dominant on Sunday.

While he did sporadically generate some pressure on Lamar Jackson, the reigning MVP was pretty much consistently able to elude him, and thus, Garrett didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet.

This is the polar opposite of what happened the last time the Ravens faced one of the league’s top pass rushers in their week two loss to Maxx Crosby and the Las Vegas Raiders.

On that day, Crosby stuffed the stat sheet, registering two sacks, four tackles for a loss, five solo tackles, one pass breakup, and two QB hits.

Crosby is having a better season than Garrett so far, and he may be surpassing him as the league’s top pass-rushing threat.

In a recent exclusive interview, the Raiders DE explained the secret to his success.

“Consistency is everything,” Crosby said in a one-on-one with RG. “It’s consistency at work. A lot of people can do it for a couple weeks, a couple months, but the ones that do it every day – no matter what part of the year it is – when you know most guys are on vacation, having drinks at the beach, doing their thing.

“It’s the guys that are putting in the work 24/7 and that’s who I am. That’s what I feel separates myself.”

It’s only natural to compare Garrett, who has led the league in sacks the past three seasons, to Crosby, who is third in this category, over that span. (Nick Bosa is second). And when you look at how the Ravens OL performed against Garrett today versus what happened earlier this season against Crosby, it’s a great litmus test.

It’s pretty apparent that some progress has been achieved in a position group with new starters at three of the five positions.

If you flash back to just after the season opener, when the O-line came under heavy criticism for what many Ravens fans felt was an underwhelming performance at Kansas City, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh preached patience with this retooled unit.

He said back on Sept. 9: “I think by the end of the season, you’re going to feel real good about our offensive line.”

Maybe his words are indeed proving prophetic now.

Raiders owner makes clear Maxx Crosby will not be traded

Mark Davis crushes the. pipe dreams of fans across the league thinking their team might pick the carcass of the Raiders.

It’s been a fun discussion around the league of late that Maxx Crosby could be had in a trade. But it was always unfounded pipe dreams type stuff. On Saturday, Raiders owner Mark Davis put an end to those hopes, telling ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the team will not be trading Crosby either before or after the deadline.

It started when Davante Adams was sent to the Jets. Suddenly everyone saw the Raiders as starting a tear down and rebuild. And when gutting a team, the discussions always surround the team’s most valuable assets.

No asset on the Raiders is more valuable than Maxx Crosby. He would garner potentially multiple first round picks.

But trading him would be the most obvious signal this team is ripping this team to the studs and starting over. A team that just a few months ago had the best defense in the league. A team that weeks ago thought of itself as being a solid QB away from competing.

They may be farther away than that as it turns out, but they don’t appear nearly ready to go scorched earth on the roster.

Trading away Davante Adams was not a signal for anything but that Adams wanted out so he could join his old pas Aaron Rodgers in New York where he thinks he’ll have a shot at the playoffs and putting up big numbers again. And that’s all it was a signal of.

Mark Davis emphatically emailed ESPN to say Maxx Crosby isn’t being traded

Maxx Crosby is not being traded, per Raiders owner Mark Davis.

 

You might want to sit down if you were hoping the Las Vegas Raiders were going to trade superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby before the 2024 NFL Deadline.

With Crosby trade speculation in the air, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Saturday night that Raiders owner Mark Davis emailed the sports media company about Crosby not being available for a trade.

“We’re Not Trading Maxx Crosby,” the email reportedly read, per Schefter. “Before Or After The Trade Deadline!!!”

Schefter confirmed NFL teams have been interested in Crosby, but Davis’ strong statement makes that possibility a non-factor ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline.

Unless Davis is putting on the biggest smokescreen of all time, Crosby will stay with Las Vegas through the season. The trade dreams appear over.

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Raiders vs Chiefs injury report: Latest updates, news for Week 8

All the latest updates and news on Raidrers injury report ahead of a Week 8 game vs. Chiefs.

Thursday’s injury report brought mainly bad news for the Raiders. Not only was tight end Harrison Bryant still missing from practice with his elbow injury, but Jakobi Meyers was back to missing practice after returning on Wednesday, suggesting perhaps a setback in his hopeful return this week.

Jakobi Meyers injury update

Meyers has missed the last two games for the Raiders, and with Davante Adams also traded away, the Raiders were without their two starting outside receivers. Tre Tucker will start again on the outside with DJ Turner in the slot, but if Meyers can’t go, he will once again be replaced by committee.

Harrison Bryant injury update

Barnes left last Sunday’s game with an elbow injury and didn’t return. He was replaced by John Samuel Shenker. Brock Bowers is the unquestioned starter, but Bryant was showing up well as a number two option. Justin Shorter was on roster as well and would step into the third TE job is Bryant can’t go.

Maxx Crosby injury update

Crosby missed practice Thursday after practicing FULL on Wednesday. While that seems a bit strange, we will wait and see what Friday looks like because Crosby has missed multiple practices each week the past three weeks and still played.

Kolton Miller injury update

Miller returned to practice Thursday as expected. He has been dealing with an elbow injury but it hasn’t caused him to miss any games.

Watch: Maxx Crosby had the coolest message for Matthew Stafford after Sunday’s game

Maxx Crosby called Matthew Stafford “one of the best to ever do it” in a classy postgame exchange Sunday

Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is the ultimate competitor, bringing a fire and passion to the field that few other players do. It translates to outstanding production as a pass rusher, which the Los Angeles Rams saw firsthand on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

After the Rams’ 20-15 win over the Raiders, Crosby found Matthew Stafford and shared an awesome message with the veteran quarterback.

“Hey, I grew up literally your biggest fan, bro. No, I’m serious. You’re (expletive) one of the best to ever do it. Proud of you, brother. Keep doing your thing,” Crosby told Stafford.

It was truly a cool moment between two stars in the game today.

Crosby was born in Michigan in 1997 so he likely grew up watching Stafford when he was with the Detroit Lions – hence, Crosby being the quarterback’s biggest fan.

Stafford has earned endless praise from younger NFL players over the years and Crosby is the latest to send some positivity Stafford’s way.