Had the offseason gone as planned, the New England Patriots would not be going up against Maxx Crosby this Sunday. Instead, the Las Vegas Raiders star would be playing for the Baltimore Ravens this weekend.
However, Baltimore famously backed out of the deal after Crosby failed his physical, retaining two first-round draft picks while seeing the 29-year-old go back to Las Vegas. Seven months later, he continues to play his typical high-volume role along the Raiders edge as if nothing had happened.
For the Patriots, that is not exactly good news. Crosby, after all, continues to be a problem for opposing offensive lines.
“It’s a guy that you have to pay attention to until the whistle blows, and a little bit after,” said starting right tackle Morgan Moses. “He’s always around. He’s a max-effort guy, that’s what he does. It’s hats off to him, what he’s been able to do in his career in this league so far. He’s a dominant force so we have to be able to have our details, our technique and our fundamentals, and know where he’s at all the time, and obviously limit him to the ball.”
Through four games this season, Crosby and the Raiders defense have been among the most disruptive forces in football. The team as a whole ranks second in the NFL in quarterback pressure rate (35.6%), with Crosby checking in at No. 4 with 25 total pressures including a pair of sacks. He also forced fumble and registered a recovery.
Long story short, he is looking every bit the player he has in the past — including last year, when he had a sack and season-best seven total disruptions in a 20-13 Raiders win in Foxborough. Naturally, the Patriots know the importance of slowing him down.
“He’s a great player. We have to try our best to stop him,” said running back TreVeyon Henderson. “We know it’s not going to be easy, so we all have to help each other out to do a good job stopping him.”
Based on alignment charting, that job will mostly fall on Moses and the right side of New England’s line. Crosby has lined up there for 176 of his 222 defensive snaps this season (79.3%).
However, as Mike Vrabel pointed out, the Patriots need to be on high-alert at all times.
“Maxx will go wherever he wants to go, and he will do whatever he wants to do, and it’s worked out really, really well,” the Patriots’ head coach said. “I have a lot of respect for Maxx Crosby as a person and also as a player. So, we’ll have to know where he is on every single play.”
Vrabel in general has been impressed with Las Vegas’ ability to force offenses into mistakes under a first-year coaching staff led by Klint Kubiak and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard.
“Guys have come from different places, and they’ve really put together a cohesive group,” he said. “[Adam] Butler was there, [Jeremy] Chinn was there, Maxx was there, [Malcolm] Koonce was there. But they’ve been able to supplement that with the guys off the football with [Nakobe] Dean and [Quay] Walker, and obviously continue to add guys inside, and then also [Kwity] Paye. So, they’ve really come together and gelled well together, and we will have to know where Maxx is, certainly, to start every play.”
