On a quiet night with points at a premium, the Raiders depended on Maxx Crosby and their defense to score a 17-13 win over the Packers on Monday night.
Crosby wreaked havoc on a battered Green Bay offensive line, forcing quarterback Jordan Love into an increasingly jumpy mindset while tallying five tackles (four for loss), four pressures, three run stuffs and a sack to lead Las Vegas to victory during the defense's best performance of the season.
"Consistency," Josh McDaniel said in his postgame news conference when asked about what he saw from Crosby. "Maxx does it every day with his effort, his work. How much he cares about every little detail relative to the football team, his teammates, his body, practice. He gives it everything he has every single time he's out there, and never comes off the field, as you know. Tremendous leadership."
The Raiders had been a scrappy bunch, but not an overperforming one a month into the season. The unit entered Monday's game ranked 23rd in points surrendered with eight touchdowns given up through the air and an average of 134.3 rushing yards allowed per game.
Crosby knew the narrative coming in. He recognized a prime-time contest as the perfect stage to put on a story-changing show.
"I would say we did that," he told ESPN's Lisa Salters. "This is what I do all year round. I love it. It's everything in me. This is what I was born to do. It was great getting a win for the fans, back here in the stadium, man, there's literally nothing better."
Even though the Packers tried to scheme Crosby into silence, either directing Love's pocket away from the pass rusher's side or impeding him with a double team, the two-time Pro Bowler still announced his presence early and often.
His four QB pressures tied for the team lead with Malcolm Koonce, who benefited from the attention paid to Crosby before exiting the game with a knee injury. And his four tackles for loss were made all the more impressive by the fact that the rest of Las Vegas combined for just one.
It was Crosby's 19th career game with multiple tackles for loss, second most in the NFL since 2019 behind only the Steelers' T.J. Watt (21), per NFL Research.
Crosby, who now has four more sacks than any other teammate, delivered his fifth of the season at a crucial time. The Packers had scored on consecutive second-half drives and were again in Raiders territory, trailing, 17-13, when Crosby's takedown of Love moved them back 7 yards to the 47. It halted momentum, and when Love tried to get it all back on the next play, a poor pass ended up tipped and in the hands of Robert Spillane for the linebacker's second pick of the day.
"I take it personal," Crosby told Salters about how he works around teams game-planning for him. "Everything I do. I always got to go above and beyond to prove my worth. Every single day I come out here, I'm trying to prove a point."
With his point emphatically made, other Raiders followed his lead.
The response came most notably defending the pass. Love entered with six touchdowns and no interceptions on the road, while Las Vegas had only managed one interception during September. It flipped the script -- first on the abovementioned Spillane picks, and then again when Amik Robertson ended the game on an end-zone pick with under a minute remaining.
Robertson's heroics became necessary after the Raiders chose to kick a 52-yard field goal on fourth-and-2 at the two-minute warning. Daniel Carlson missed, and Green Bay received the ball near midfield needing a TD to win.
Even though the defense bent as it had occasionally during the night, allowing the Packers a pair of first downs to reach the Las Vegas 35-yard line, it ultimately did what good units do and delivered a dagger.
As the Raiders still search for their rhythm on offense, Crosby and Co. have afforded a chance to find it one game below .500 rather than three.
"As a defense, like I said, we take it personal," Crosby said. "Everyone has talked about our defense being the weak link. So, I take it personal, the guys take it personal, we keep getting better and better every single day. I think we're putting that together. We've got a lot of room to improve, but I think we're off to a good start."
