Although the Oakland Raiders were unable to keep their winning streak going versus the New York Jets in Week 12, defensive end Maxx Crosby continues to be quite a gem in the 2019 NFL season.
Crosby had been coming off a breakout four-sack performance versus the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11. He followed it up by serving as one of the few bright spots in the 34-3 loss to the Jets after finishing with four tackles and a sack to add to his impressive rookie numbers.
Regardless, it did little to spark any signs of life in the disappointing loss to New York. It seems it also served as a reminder for Oakland not to overlook any opponent.
Crosby understands that the Raiders will need to quickly find a way to get back on track before taking on the Kansas City Chiefs, via the team’s official website:
“You can’t take anybody lightly. They’ve been playing well and we didn’t play well at all. We played bad on every phase, we got to learn from it and bounce back real fast,” Crosby said. “Kansas City is going to be more than ready. We just got to keep doing the right things and executing.”
Crosby added that the team must learn from their mistakes and move forward rather than sulking in the loss:
“We’re going to watch the film and get better from it… that’s all we can do. You can’t look back and think about, ‘I should have done this, that, blah, blah, blah’ you got to learn and translate it to next week.”
There is certainly plenty of truth to Crosby’s comments considering the Raiders had generated plenty of hype going into a favorable matchup with the Jets only to suffer their worst loss of the season. However, sulking on a blown opportunity to close the gap in the AFC West would be counterintuitive at this point since they still have a chance to even things up in Week 13.
The Chiefs are just one game ahead in the division and hold the series lead after winning their first matchup in Week 2. A win this week would put the Raiders in control of their own destiny heading down the final stretch of the 2019 campaign.
If there was ever a time for Crosby to solidify his carse as perhaps the biggest steal of the 2019 NFL Draft, it would be this week by making quarterback Patrick Mahomes feel as uncomfortable as possible.
