Raiders Star Defensive End Maxx Crosby Needs More Love

Jeff Spiegel
Jeff Spiegel
5 Min Read
Nov 13, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) watches a replay after making a tackle against the Indianapolis Colts during the first half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

When you’re building a player in a video game, there’s always some give and take. If you want a guy with speed, he can’t be maxed out on power as well. If you want high effort, you’re probably going to get lower peaks. Otherwise, the game wouldn’t be fair.

Well, don’t tell whatever lab Maxx Crosby was built in.

You want effort and desire? Find me a guy in the league who wants it more than Crosby. You want high-end traits? Ask opposing running backs what it’s like to receive a handoff and find that Crosby is already up in their grill. You want special moments? How about a forced fumble to thwart a would-be touchdown immediately followed by a blocked field goal.

The truth is, the fourth-year man out of Eastern Michigan has it all — and it’s time folks around the league start to take notice.

Maxx Crosby, Raiders
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) runs to the sidelines after picking up a fumbled ball from Jacksonville Jaguars running back JaMycal Hasty (22) during early first quarter action. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Las Vegas Raiders at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL Sunday November 6, 2022. The Jaguars trailed 20 to 10 at the end of the first half. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]Jki 110622 Bs Jaguars Vs R 37
Famously a fourth-round pick, Crosby posted 10 sacks as a rookie and then 15 more in the two seasons that followed — never missing a game in his young career. Through 10 games this season, Crosby already has nine sacks to his name after bringing Russell Wilson to the ground twice in his team’s must-have game against the Broncos.

But it’s not just the sacks. Crosby also leads the league in tackles for loss as he has established himself as more than just a pure pass-rusher. In fact, if you look at the sacks leaderboard, just one of the top 40 names on that list has more than 40 tackles on the season — and that’s Crosby, with 42 to his name.

And it’s not even just the box score, either. I think the most amazing thing about Crosby might be all the things that are harder to measure — his effort, his preparation, and his pure want-to. The best number to measure that is snap count, and it’s no surprise that Crosby leads the Raider defense in snaps this season (565, which is 67 more than Rock Ya-Sin, who is second). In fact, he has played 90% of the snaps in every game this season — including 100% of the snaps in Sunday’s win against the Broncos — and leads all defensive linemen in snaps per game (56.5).

Just think about that. 

For a guy with the spin move, the intelligence, and the length of Crosby to also have the kind of chase-you-down-from-behind-and-never-miss-a-snap type of attitude? It’s honestly not fair.

Maxx Crosby, Raiders
Oct 23, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) gestures after making a play against the Houston Texans during the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

But speaking of fair: I’d argue that Crosby is doing all this despite getting an unfair amount of attention from opposing offenses. Much like Davante Adams on offense, there’s really only one guy on either side of the ball that requires game-planning — and on defense, it’s Crosby.

Chandler Jones was brought in to be his side-kick, but through 10 weeks, it is clear that Crosby is the only real threat to get after quarterbacks — so the fact that he is producing at the level he is while essentially playing on an island is kind of insane.

Which is probably the right word to use to describe the man they call Mad Maxx.

His production? Insane.

His effort? Insane.

His leadership? Insane.

It’s about time folks around the league start noticing.

Information

Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a small newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Raiders and Dodgers since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNewswire.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Raider This one is an easy one for me: Charles Woodson. When the Raiders drafted him, there was nothing to dislike about the guy — he was exciting and he was freaking good. Unfortunately, of course, he left after eight seasons — but when he returned in 2013 it was one of the better Raider moments of my lifetime. At that point, I didn't care how washed he was (and he wasn't!) — I just liked having him back in the silver and black. Obviously Tim Brown is another guy that was easy to love, but Woodson is the all-timer for me. As far as current, I'm still a believer in Derek Carr and think he's going to figure this all out. Favorite Raider Moment I think I'll go with the two weeks leading up to the 2001 Super Bowl. As a kid, I remember getting the newspaper every morning to read what they were talking about, clipping out the articles to keep for later. It was obviously far more exciting than the Super Bowl itself, but I'll never forget those moments of hope leading up to the Super Bowl. I referenced it above, but second to that was probably the return of Charles Woodson in 2013 — I just loved the guy, and never dreamed he'd actually come back.