Maxx Crosby Talks Raiders Defensive Turnaround

The Las Vegas Raiders have played much better defense during the second half of the 2023 season.

During the first half, the Raiders allowed 23.4 points per game. Since Interim Coach Antonio Pierce took over, they have allowed only 14.4 points per game and have stifled some of the best offenses in the league.

This speaks to the culture that Pierce has instilled and the terrific job Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham has done with this unit. With few household names beyond defensive end Maxx Crosby, the Raiders have been one of the best defenses in the league.

Crosby spoke about what has sparked this defensive turnaround on his podcast, the Rush with Maxx Crosby.

“It comes down to not blinking,” Crosby said. “We’ve been in a lot of situations where, boom, short field, turnover, and we’re at the 20-yard line. In the past, it’s been like: ‘Oh f--, here we go.’ But for us, it’s like: ‘Alright, f-- it, let’s go get another stop. Let’s go get another stop, let’s find a way to push them out of field goal range or do whatever.’ So, when you have guys thinking like that, everybody on the same page, and everyone communicating at a high level, it’s going to lead to success, and you just see this group come together.

“We have a ton of young guys, a ton of new faces, like I already touched on, but you just see everyone playing together and having fun out there, and it’s honestly been f--ng incredible. Even though we haven’t had the full success we want regarding wins and losses, we know we’re going in the right direction as a defense. It’s bittersweet in a way, but we believe in our guys on offense. It was obviously a tough a-- night, but the only thing we can do is get better.”

The Raiders will face good offenses in their final four games of the regular season, including rematches with the Kansas City Chiefs and the red-hot Denver Broncos. They will have to keep playing at a high level to reach their goal of playing postseason football, which Crosby also spoke about on the podcast.

The entire podcast episode can be found here.

The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.

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