Analyzing the Raiders Wild Final Two Weeks of the Season

The Las Vegas Raiders' roller coaster of a season continues to have its ups and downs, even with the season finally coming to an end. Nothing about this season has gone well, or as expected, for the Raiders. Just when things seemed straightforward, they became complicated.

Raiders' Situation

The Raiders are in the rare position where losing games will help them more than winning would. In a business where winning is all that matters, Las Vegas is in a challenging position. The Raiders' front office has had to quietly acknowledge the truth about where they stand.

Las Vegas has sat Brock Bowers, Maxx Crosby and Jeremy Chinn for the rest of the season. The moves make it very clear what the organization wants, especially with Crosby going on Injured Reserve. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated explained how Crosby's situation has played out.

"Crosby’s knee injury goes back to Las Vegas’s first game against the Chiefs on Oct. 19. He’s been managed through every week of practice since, and has appeared on the injury report with the knee issue since Week 12," Breer said.

"That said, the five-time Pro Bowler didn’t like the decision to shut him down being taken out of his hands, and didn’t like how it was communicated to him. Tom Brady’s longtime body coach, Alex Guerrero, who’s now in an elevated role in the organization, is part of the equation here, too.

"My sense is this will likely lead Crosby to consider all of his options. He’ll be 29 by the start of next season and has a lot of mileage on his body after finishing each of the past three seasons hurt. His contract is tradeable, and the Raiders still look like they’re a couple of good offseasons away from contending."

The Raiders could undoubtedly have delivered the news to Crosby better and sooner. The move was a surprise to just about everyone. For the Raiders to have reportedly gone against two doctors' opinions and Crosby's own belief speaks volumes and raises fair questions.

Shortly after the decision to sit Crosby for Week 17, Carroll explained what happened when Crosby received the news. It went about as well as anyone could have expected after Crosby said he planned to play to win down the stretch days earlier.

“And so, he doesn't want to take the news like that, and I don't want to take the news like that. And so, we just worked our way through to get to this point where he's been practicing on Fridays, and he'd have gone if we let him, he'd have been out there, and he would not have hesitated. But he knows that he's banged up, so he's talking about, 'I'd like to get out of here.' And I said, 'Yeah, get out of here.' So, he took off," Carroll said.

Crosby is a fierce competitor, but that competitiveness could have worked against the Raiders over the final two games of the season. These are the facts. Crosby is good enough that he could have helped the Raiders win either of their final two games, which would have been counterproductive.

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