It’s been a difficult start to the season for the Raiders, and for the first time since 2018, the playoffs are essentially out of the picture for the Raiders before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Maxx Crosby is the undisputed leader of the team and uses his podcast platform each week to talk about a variety of topics, but generally he throws in thoughts on the team and recognizes a few of his teammates.
This week, Crosby called it a “f—ed up” season for the Raiders and one he never would have guessed was coming.
“No words, really, we are 2-8,” Crosby said on The Rush.
“It has been a f—-ed up season, to say the least. Seriously cannot even describe the feeling. You know what I mean being a part of such a tough year. [You] could not have told me this was going to be the result,” Crosby continued.
“At the end of the day, [there are] seven games left. That is all we can do. Take it one at a time, continue to get better and improve. My goal, as I said, never changes. I love the doubt. I love the negativity. Just another opportunity to rise. I plan on doing that. Keep leading, keep showing up, keep being the example and that is all I can do. Yeah, that is all I really have. I will just leave it at that.”
It’s been a disappointing season from Crosby from a team standpoint, but it also hasn’t been his best year in terms of his production. He missed week four against the Browns with a high ankle sprain and bounced back the following week with 2 sacks against the Denver Broncos.
But in the last five games, Crosby has just 1.5 sacks and hasn’t recorded a sack in any of the last three games.
With Malcolm Koonce and Christian Wilkins both out for the season, opposing offenses have been able to focus more of their attention on Crosby in recent weeks.
Adam Butler and Tyree Wilson were each able to record a sack in week 11 against the Miami Dolphins, but the Raiders’ defense is leaning on too many players that weren’t expected to have a significant role (or even a role at all) at the start of the season.
Injuries are only part of the story of what’s gone wrong for the Raiders this year, and Davante Adams said on Wednesday, in no uncertain terms, that the Jets situation is somehow better for him than what he had in Las Vegas.
Losing Adams in the locker room didn’t hurt the team in terms of morale, but it had a major impact on the viability of the offense. Adams was a player that opposing defense always had to account for, and that’s been a missing piece for the offense since he left.
Nevertheless, Aaron Rodgers has Adams in New York now, and the situation on offense for the Jets is no better than when Adams arrived. The Jets are 1-4 since trading for Adams and there’s good chance the All-Pro wide receiver just forced his way to another team on the verge of an organizational rebuild.
Crosby and the rest of the team are going to finish out the season playing for pride, and for the second consecutive year, the future of their head coach might be on the line, as well.
Antonio Pierce still has the support of the locker room, but how many wins will he need to hold onto his job after the season?
“I thought [Pierce] could definitely come back with five wins,” Tafur said on the Just Win podcast this week.
“The defensive injury excuse is valid [and] not getting a quarterback, that’s what we said [Pierce] needed all offseason,” Tafur continued. “He had to have a non-stop gap guy. That didn’t happen for him, so I just think Gardner has had more issues than they probably envisioned. And the whole Devante [Adams] thing blew up. So I think there’s definitely excuses there. But I do think five wins is the number I was looking at ‘Okay, he’s back for sure with five wins.’”
x: @raidersbeat
Too bad he can’t call out Graham for what a POS he’s been.
AP needed to be surrounded with a good OC to have success. I predicted 5 wins before the season and that was when we were fully healthy. AP still struggling with situational football is what concerns me still. The way they handled the qb situation from the beginning was a disaster, just pick one and go with it. I think his days are over at seasons end
It doesn’t matter how good of a practice you can have. It never position over to game day. So now just playing to see who’s going to be back next season. 22 years of losing
What ever happened to loving the game so much that it’s not a job and you would play for free? I guess football is just a job now but not everyone is willing to work for it. Most of them make to much money and still don’t do their job. The TEAM has nothing to show for it. But that society now, we answer to no one. WHO IS IN CHARGE IN RAIDERS NATION?!?!
Crosby’s play is down, this year. He can’t use the HC as an excuse, because he got the leader that he wanted, as he threatened to force a trade if Pierce wasn’t retained. Since we are rebuilding, maybe the team should look at what he would bring via trade in the offseason.