LAS VEGAS — If there’s one thing Raider Nation has learned this season, it’s this: Maxx Crosby is out here fighting Thanos-level blocking schemes while the rest of the roster plays like background characters. And Pete Carroll’s latest presser didn’t just confirm it—it unintentionally highlighted the entire, painful gap between Crosby’s effort and the Las Vegas Raiders‘ broader execution.
When asked whether the Los Angeles Chargers leaned even harder into double- and triple-teaming Crosby, Carroll didn’t hesitate. “Maxx has drawn attention all year long,” he stated, noting that there hasn’t been “a game where somebody thought they could single him.” That’s not surprising. Crosby has long been the heart, soul and motor of the Raiders’ identity. But what came next was the part Raider Nation can’t ignore.
How do opposing offenses stop the star Raiders pass rusher?
Carroll described how opposing offenses allocate resources specifically to stop him: “There’s two guys sitting there waiting for him. There are four hands and two bodies and four eyes looking at him, and he has to deal with it.” And in case that visual wasn’t clear enough, he added that sometimes “these guys are coming after him” one after another, as if Crosby were some sort of final boss in a video game.
Here’s the problem: When your best player is getting suffocated by double teams every snap, that’s not just a compliment. It’s a challenge—and the Raiders have consistently failed to answer it.
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If Crosby draws two or three blockers, the math is simple: someone else is unblocked, and someone else should have a lane. Someone else should be able to win their matchup. Yet week after week, the Raiders somehow turn Crosby’s dominance into isolated heroism rather than a structural advantage.
Carroll tried to cushion it by saying the team does what it can schematically: “There are ways we move people around and try to get him in singles whenever we can.” But even that admission sounds more like a wish than a plan. If the approach were working, Crosby wouldn’t be stuck in a weekly endurance contest against half an offensive line.
To Carroll’s credit, he praised Crosby’s motor: “He wants to get that freaking ball and the quarterback so bad… you think he would wear out. He doesn’t.” That’s true—Crosby doesn’t wear out. But the rest of the defense does. The rest of the roster does. Even the coaching staff seems to.
That’s the real issue…
The Raiders are relying on Crosby to be superhuman while everyone else gets the luxury of being ordinary. At some point, Raider Nation deserves to see a defense where Crosby’s greatness elevates the unit—not a defense where his greatness merely prevents total collapse.
Because if Maxx is giving you three blockers’ worth of effort, the least the rest of the Raiders can do is give him one.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images