Raiders Yannick Ngakoue says he and Maxx Crosby will be ‘best duo’ pass rushers in NFL
It’s hype season. And after just two days on the job in Las Vegas, Yannick Ngakoue sees great things from him and his bookend edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
“I think that Maxx and myself are the best duo that is going to come hit the scene. I’m already putting that out there,” Ngakoue said of Crosby.
“Maxx is a hard worker, he’s a guy that’s putting in the work. Literally, I’m lifting weights right now and Maxx is in there doing things to get better. It’s the dedication and the commitment and I can play all day with a guy like that.”
That’s a bold statement to be certain. It’s not impossible, but it would probably require both players have career years. Crosby’s best season was his rookie year in 2019 when he put up ten sacks. Ngakoue’s best season came in 2017 when he put up 12 sacks and went to the Pro Bowl.
New defensive coordinator Gus Bradley talks a lot about rotating guys into the game along the defensive line to keep them fresh. But it’s clear the bulk of the pass rush is expected to come from Ngakoue and Crosby.
Broncos EDGE Von Miller had some high praise for Raiders DE Maxx Crosby
In a recent piece I put out, I set about ranking the Raiders players 1 thru 25. Topping that list was, of course, elite tight end Darren Waller. Who was next in line? Why, edge rusher Maxx Crosby, of course.
For anyone who may have questioned that ranking, Von Miller would like a word. The future Hall of Famer attended a pass rushing summit in Las Vegas this weekend. A few Raiders players attended the event, including Crosby. Miller had some high praise for the third-year edge rusher.
Von Miller said he learned a few things from Maxx Crosby at his pass rush summit Saturday. Called Crosby the Raiders’ “franchise guy.” pic.twitter.com/l6CdOcJLSw
When a player with the array of pass rush moves that Von Miller possesses says he’s learned some things from you, that’s one hell of a compliment. Calling Crosby a “franchise guy” is appropriate as well as he’s undoubtedly the Raiders’ best defender and took that spot as a rookie.
Crosby became a full time starter midway through his rookie season and finished with ten sacks. He followed that up with seven sacks in his second season, while his tackle for loss and QB hit numbers were almost identical to his first season. He’s the real deal. Miller sees it too.
It’s all come down to this. After counting down from 25, we have now reached the top five players on the Raiders roster.
5. RB Josh Jacobs
Though Jacobs made the Pro Bowl last season, he actually took a bit of a step back from the level of player he looked as a rookie. In 13 games, he had 1150 yards and averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Last season he had 1060 yards in 15 games, averaging nearly a full yard per carry less (3.9). Though he did see his touchdown numbers jump from seven as a rookie to 12 last season. He also saw his touches in the passing game increase, making for a better all-around season. He is considered a top ten back in the NFL right now.
4. LT Kolton Miller
His third season in the NFL, showed Miller had matured into one of the more solid left tackles in the league. It earned him an extension, making him the first-round one pick to get a second contract since Darren McFadden. His value to this team is considerable, especially with the overhaul the team did along the offensive line this offseason.
3. DE Yannick Ngakoue
A bit of a journeyman, Ngakoue is on his fourth NFL team in one calendar year. Which is pretty surprising for a guy who averages over nine sacks a season and has never had fewer than eight sacks. Those kinds of numbers are certainly welcome on the Raiders.
There is still the lingering question as to why he was never a difference-maker on the other three teams who employed him and why all three were willing to part with him. If it’s merely that he’s a situational pass rusher, that could be enough for the Raiders
2. DE Maxx Crosby
He’s no Khalil Mack to be certain, so let’s not get it twisted. But Crosby has been a Godsend over his two years in Silver & Black. Since the Raiders stole him in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, he’s been their best defender, and it’s not really close. Though that may say more about the overall issues in the Raiders defense the past couple of seasons than anything. Including, and perhaps especially, top pick draft classmate Clelin Ferrell.
Crosby burst out the games to put up ten sacks as a rookie and followed that up with a seven-sack season last year. He also has 27 QB hits and is a pretty good run defender as well.
1. TE Darren Waller
If this were like a grading scale as opposed to a ranking, the gap between Waller and the rest of this roster would be a lot more than one spot. Waller is on another level. If not for the existence of Travis Kelce, Waller would have been a first-team All-Pro this past season with zero doubt. He is a certified game-changer for this team.
The past two seasons he easily led the team in receiving, compiling 197 catches for 2341 yards. In 2020, he set franchise records with 107 catches. That is not only the most catches for a tight end in Raiders history, it’s the most PERIOD. Surpassing Tim Brown’s record of 104 catches in a season. The most no-brainer best player ranking I can imagine.
Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby wins AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 17 vs. the Denver Broncos.
Maxx Crosby finished the 2020 regular season on a high note and now has the hardware to prove it.
The Las Vegas Raiders (8-8) defensive end was named the AFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in Week 17 vs. the Denver Broncos.
In the close 32-31 win for the silver and black, Crosby had two blocked field goals. As if blocking two field goals in a single game wasn’t crazy enough… Crosby revealed something to the team’s website after the outing: It was the first time in his life he ever blocked a field goal, let alone the first time he had two in a game.
While his effort on special teams stood out the most in Las Vegas’ season finale, he brought it on defense, too.
The second-year pro had seven QB pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, to go along with two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits against Denver. The site gave him an overall grade of 82.2 in Week 17, his highest single-game mark of the year. Crosby’s work in the season finale helped the Raiders earn a .500 or better record for the first time since 2016.
Crosby led the Raiders in sacks for a second straight season with seven and played in all 16 games once again.
The Indianapolis Colts (8-4) travel west to take on the Las Vegas Raiders (7-5) in a must-win game for both sides. The Colts hope to keep pace with the Titans in the AFC South, while also holding onto their wild card spot. The Raiders are on the outside looking in, which gives them even more incentive to pick up a win.
Jon Gruden’s team has struggled in recent weeks with injuries on both sides of the ball. After narrowly beating the Jets last week, the Raiders are trying to salvage their season and make a playoff push.
The injury to Josh Jacobs will be one to monitor as it isn’t clear whether he will play. If he were to make it onto the field Sunday, he would be the top player to game plan for.
Here are five Raiders the Colts must game plan for in Week 14:
The Raiders blew an opportunity in Atlanta, and now the head coach has to prove that he can get Las Vegas back on the winning track.
In a final score that was surely shocking to much of the NFL, the Raiders lost in embarrassing fashion to the Falcons on Sunday, 43-6, putting their record at 6-5 their chances for the AFC playoffs in peril.
Nothing went right for Las Vegas, starting when coach Jon Gruden’s offense went four-plays-and-out when gifted a 1st-and-5 situation on the day’s first set of downs. The defense held Atlanta to a field goal on the ensuing drive, only to watch quarterback Derek Carr fumble from the pocket on his next opportunity, resulting in the first of five turnovers on the day for the Raiders.
Gruden blamed the utter collapse — against a very beatable Falcons team when the Raiders needed a win badly — on himself, and he even said he’s sorry about the entire ordeal.
“I’d like to apologize to the Raider Nation and compliment the Falcons. They played a hell of a football game, and we did not. The turnovers. The penalties. Inexcusable, and it’s a reflection of me. We’re a lot better team than that.
“When we got hit in the mouth with the 4th-and-1, the stop. Then we fumble the next play. We’ve got to get off the mat and fight back better as a coaching staff and as a football team. That’s something that we’ve got to take a look at. Like I said, it’s a reflection of me. I apologize to the Raider fans.”
The Raiders also committed 11 penalties, adding up to a staggering 141 yards in losses. Carr’s early fumble was one of his three on the day, and they were all recovered by the defense. The QB has now lost eight fumbles on the season.
In fact, in total, it was a historically bad performance by the Raiders, according to ESPN’s Jason McCallum.
The @Raiders had 11 penalties, 141 penalty yards, 5 turnovers, were sacked 5 times and allowed 43 points.
Since 1940, no NFL team had hit those thresholds in a single game.
This was literally an historically inept game put forth in a game that needed to be won. Gross.
But it’s still surprising that the high-powered Raiders’ offense didn’t get moving before it was too late. Their maligned defense played well enough to allow for a slow start from the group. Gruden and Carr could find no such magic, however.
So what happened? Coach Jon Gruden was facing a former assistant in Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris. Gruden is now 1-3 in that situation, according to the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow. Could that have affected the offense so terribly?
When asked postgame about Morris by the Raiders Wire’s Levi Damien, Gruden said: “We had some players open. We had opportunities to make plays. I’m not going to sit here and say anything else. We had plenty of opportunities, they made more plays than we did, and it snowballed on us today. And when you turn the ball over five times and have 120 yards of penalties, you got no chance.”
Whatever the reason for this shocking loss, the Raiders blew a huge opportunity in Atlanta. They must notch some wins immediately to make a playoff push, starting next weekend in New York against the Jets. Las Vegas has to prove its performance in Atlanta wasn’t a true reflection of the head coach and get back to lighting up the scoreboard as they have for most of the campaign.
Justin Herbert was under siege and still threw a TD pass.
Justin Herbert was about to be crushed by Maxx Crosby. The rookie QB had rolled right and the plan was to throw the screen across the field to Gabe Nabers.
However, Crosby arrived a bit earlier than the Chargers hoped and Herbert was forced to put a balloon up in the air toward the rookie fullback from Florida State.
Somehow, the ball fluttered to Nabers, who took it into the end zone for a touchdown that brought Los Angeles within two points of Las Vegas, 28-26.
Herbert was shaken up on the play and it took a few minutes before he walked off the field. Tyrod Taylor had to come on and attempt the two-point conversion, which failed after the backup QB’s scramble.
The Raiders found a gem in the fourth round of last year’s draft, but DE Maxx Crosby isn’t satisfied with simply outperforming expectations.
After Maxx Crosby’s surprising success during his rookie campaign a year ago, expectations for the defensive end are sky-high.
And that seems to be okay with Crosby. He’s mentally and physically prepared for a big season, stating he’s yet to approach his full potential.
Crosby led the club with 10 sacks in 2019, but in 2020, he has a simple goal: dominate the opposition.
“I feel like I could dominate every single game and that’s my goal and that’s what I plan on doing,” Crosby said Monday from training camp. “This offseason I put on some good weight. I’m running 275 right now and I feel great. My conditioning is getting to where I need it. I’m just super excited to show everybody that it wasn’t just a fluke rookie year. I want to prove to everyone that I’m going to be here for a long time.”
Crosby is clearly mentally charged for the upcoming season, but he’s also been adding weight to his frame, as coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock said he must do when they drafted Crosby out of Eastern Michigan.
He’s listed on the Raiders’ official roster at 255 pounds, though it’s no secret Crosby added to that total throughout last year’s campaign. He now weighs in at 275, fulfilling the projection of his coach and GM.
As for Crosby’s goal of domination, there was a bit of added nuance in his statement Monday. He also said he wants to improve in every phase of the game including pass-rushing, run defense and being a playmaker. “I feel like I definitely did some good things last year, but I haven’t even touched where I want to be,” he said.
But he’s had a taste of success, and his appetite for more is evident. The Raiders’ defense must improve if the team is to have a prosperous season, and Crosby appears ready to make the campaign easier for his teammates by dominating the edge and disrupting the opponent.
Maxx Crosby already has a plan for his second NFL contract
It’s going to be at least a couple years before Maxx Crosby has a chance to sign his second NFL contract. But the second-year Raiders defensive end already knows how he wants to spend that money.
He wants to open a Pit Bull rescue.
After a rookie season with 10 sacks, ‘Mad Maxx’ has designs on staying in the NFL for a long time. And being that he was selected in the fourth round, his rookie contract is not nearly enough for such a venture.
When Crosby recently tweeted out that he was going to start a Put Bull rescue “one day,” it didn’t necessarily sound like a statement anyone would hold him to. And if so, maybe it was something for down the road a ways, perhaps after retirement. But Crosby is absolutely serious about it and he means as soon as possible.
“I’m 100% gonna do it. That’s definitely something I’m going to do,” Crosby told Raiders Wire of his plans on starting a Pit Bull rescue. “I think second contract, definitely, once I have a little bit more money in my pocket and I can get that going.”
Crosby didn’t come to this decision lightly. He and his girlfriend have three Pit Bulls already — Brooklyn, Leo, and Durk — and plan to get a fourth next year.
Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby with his dogs Brooklyn, Leo, and Durk.
“I rescued my first one in my last year at school,” Crosby continued. “Once I got my first one, now we’re obsessed. Then I got my big XL pit (Durk) from West Virginia and we just rescued another one once we got to Vegas. So we’ve been getting one every single year over the last three years. So, that’s definitely something I’d like to do to save a lot of dogs and get them to the right place.”
Pit Bulls are labeled by many as so-called “vicious killing machines.” From there, the issues the breed has with public perception begin to snowball. They can attract the wrong kind of owners, who mistreat them or abandon them. For that reason, among others, a great many end up in shelters where they get passed up by potential adopters, often out of often misplaced fear.
“They’re some of the harder to place dogs just because of the misconceptions of a bully breed of a Pit Bull,” said Jennifer Peabody, a registered Veterinary Technician and Animal Welfare Professional for 25 years. “The adults stay in your adoption program a lot longer than some of the other fluffy breeds.
“We have a [Pit Bull breed] dog that we brought in, sweet girl . . . and there’s just nobody adopting her and we don’t know why. Is it because of her breed? Could be. We even have pictures of her playing in sprinklers.”
This contradiction between perception and reality is something to which a 6-5, 273-pound defensive end can certainly relate.
“I look at Pit Bulls like I look at myself,” said Crosby.
“Personality-wise, I feel like from the outside a lot of people think I’m angry. Everybody goes ‘Mad Maxx! He’s this big, bad son of a bitch.’ On the field that’s what I am. I play my ass off, I don’t take crap from anybody and that’s how I play,” he said. “But as a person off the field, I’m a big teddy bear, I talk to everybody, I try to be cool with everyone, I try to have great relationships with people. I’m just a soft-spoken good person. That’s who I try to be and that’s how I feel like Pit Bulls are. They get this rap, people say all these [things] ‘they got lockjaw’ which is a myth, that’s not even true, and also that they’re these fighting dogs and blah blah blah, but that’s just not what they are. Some dogs are raised like that and they’re forced into doing that, but that’s not what they want to do, that’s not what the majority of Pit Bulls are. . . They’re misrepresented and I take it personally because I got three of them. I just want to show people they’re actually great dogs.”
Putting together a Pit Bull rescue is a noble task. And certainly takes an investment. But being an advocate for rescue Pit Bulls is a great first step. Using his platform as an NFL player to educate people about Pit Bulls and other bully breeds goes a long way.
Crosby loves his Pit Bulls. He sees them as the perfect family dogs. And he hopes his experience will convince a few others of the same.
“It starts with people getting to see the dogs,” said Crosby. “That starts with social media and having people in the building and seeing how good the dogs are and how you can rehabilitate some of these days. And that’s what I’ll try to do. Just get the word out that they’re great dogs. They’re not just these crazy, off-tempered kind of dogs. I just want to show people that they are great dogs and that will definitely be a part of my plan is getting to show people how they really are.”
When thinking of animal rescue efforts and the Raiders, the first person who comes to mind is former CEO Amy Trask.
As a lawyer, NFL team CEO, and board member of Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, Trask seemed the perfect person to ask about such things. So, I did. She offered some salient advice to Crosby or any other pro player with such ambitions.
“I don’t want to in any way rain on his parade about starting his own. And if ultimately his heart is in starting his own, that’s terrific,” said Trask in a phone conversation Wednesday morning. “But if his heart is simply, ‘I want to save dogs and I don’t care whether it’s my proprietary rescue service specifically,’ then I think he might look into teaming up with an existing Pit Bull rescue.”
The financial investment required to start a rescue is the reason Crosby is waiting until his second NFL contract to tackle it. But even then, Trask warns that a new startup would mean a lot of those finances and efforts would end up going to things other than rescuing Pit Bulls.
“To start his own rescue is a very, very big undertaking,” Trask continued, “both from a legal standpoint to make sure you get 501(c)(3) status, from a tax standpoint, a business standpoint, a management standpoint, all of that takes a lot of resources of time and money.
“I would start looking at Pit rescues if I were him and saying, ‘Look, I can drive a lot of attention to this, I can drive a lot of excitement about this. I have plenty of people. Heck, I have Raider Nation, or at least those who care about rescuing animals. . . I, Maxx, can bring tremendous resources to you, let’s team up.’ That’s what I would advise him.”
Trask cautions that should Crosby decide to team up with an existing rescue, to be extremely careful and make sure that rescue is reputable and has a high Charity Navigator rating, which means a significant amount of the proceeds go to the cause they are promoting.
The first rescue group that comes to mind for me when I think of Pit Bull rescues is Best Friends, which saved and rehabilitated many of the dogs that were taken from the dog-fighting ring on Mike Vick’s property back in 2008. The Best Friends animal sanctuary is in Southern Utah, about 200 miles northeast of Las Vegas. They also opened a couple of no-kill shelters in Los Angeles a few years ago.
A couple of local Las Vegas Pit Bull rescue groups that come highly recommended include the Samadhi Legacy Foundation and Lone Woof Rescue – both of which specialize in animal rescues, no-kill shelters, and educating the public on the unfair stigma associated with “Bully Breeds”
There are a lot of avenues for Crosby to use his passion and his platform to get Pit Bulls adopted, many of which he can do right now, even before he has the financial wherewithal to make a major investment in starting a rescue of his own. His heart is in the right place, and that’s the perfect starting point.
The Seahawks have more competition to sway star edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney back to Seattle as the Raiders have made him an offer.
Team sources tell me #Raiders have extended an offer to Jadeveon Clowney. 2 or 3 other teams have better offers. Jon Gruden REALLY wants him but Davis/Mayock are standing pat (for now) Gruden would like to up the offer. Interesting for #Broncos if JC winds up in AFCW @1043TheFan
If the Las Vegas Raiders have their way, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney will not be returning to the Seattle Seahawks in 2020.
104.3 The Fan’s Cecil Lammey reported on Monday that the Raiders have extended an offer to Clowney, joining the slew of organizations trying to tempt the pass-rusher to sign with them before the season starts.
As Lammey states, multiple other teams have made larger offers to Clowney, but he has yet to accept any of them. Currently, the Cleveland Browns stand at the top of the sweepstakes, having offered $3 million more than Seattle has offered.
Signing Clowney would give the Raiders a much-needed veteran presence at edge rusher to mentor young defensive ends Maxx Crosby and Clelin Ferrell, who combined for 14.5 sacks in 2019.
As it stands, the 2020 NFL season will not kick off for another two months, leaving Clowney plenty of time to wait for better options should he continue to test the waters.
