Maxx Crosby showed up. The Las Vegas Raiders? Not so much.
In a game that quickly spiraled from bad to worse, Crosby was one of the few bright spots in a 31-0 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles - a game that felt over by halftime and ended with a scoreboard that told the whole story. The Raiders weren’t just beaten. They were overwhelmed.
Crosby, as usual, brought the fire. He notched another sack and added a tackle for loss, continuing a remarkable run that now includes four straight seasons with double-digit sacks.
His TFL numbers, too, are climbing into rarefied air - among the best we’ve seen from a defensive lineman in this era. He’s not just piling up stats; he’s building a legacy.
But on Sunday night, Crosby’s excellence was a lonely island.
The Eagles, riding a three-game losing streak coming in, looked anything but vulnerable. They found their rhythm early, and once they did, the Raiders had no answers.
Las Vegas couldn’t stop the bleeding, couldn’t get off the field on defense, and couldn’t keep the offense on it. The result?
A shutout loss that felt like a statement - just not the kind you want associated with your team.
Head coach Pete Carroll didn’t sugarcoat it afterward. “We just got whipped, by a loaded football team,” he told reporters.
No excuses. No spin.
Just a straight-up acknowledgment of how far the Raiders have to go.
That kind of blunt honesty matched what fans saw on the field. Kenny Pickett spent most of the night under pressure, and the offense never found any kind of rhythm.
Drives stalled early and often. The defense, meanwhile, wore down fast - and not just because of time of possession.
Missed assignments, poor tackling, and a failure to set the edge led to big plays, including one touchdown that pushed the score to 24-0 and sent social media into a frenzy.
That particular defensive breakdown - a wide-open edge leading to an easy score - drew sharp criticism from local analysts, who didn’t hold back. Words like “laughable” and “perfect medicine for a struggling offense” floated around, and honestly, they weren’t wrong. For a team trying to build a tough, competitive identity, this was a step backward - and a loud one.
And that’s the hard part. Because while Maxx Crosby continues to play at an elite level - the kind of production that puts you in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation most seasons - the team around him isn’t holding up its end. When the wheels fall off like they did against Philly, Crosby’s brilliance gets buried under the avalanche.
This wasn’t just a bad loss. It was the kind of performance that makes other teams circle the Raiders on their schedule and think, “That’s the week we get right.”
Until Las Vegas can prove otherwise, Crosby’s greatness is going to feel like a footnote in a season full of frustration.