The Las Vegas Raiders’ 2023 season was spiraling down the drain before ownership stepped in to make a drastic move. General manager Dave Zeigler, head coach Josh McDaniels and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi were all fired ahead of their Week 10 matchup with the New York Giants.
Antonio Pierce took over as interim head coach and for at least one week, the move worked. The Raiders’ performance in Week 10 was as spirited as any this season as they blew out the Giants, 30-6.
One of the changes Pierce made was substituting rookie Aidan O’Connell into the starting lineup at quarterback in place of veteran Jimmy Garoppolo. That helped jumpstart the offense, but the defense also took advantage of a good opportunity.
With Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones going down with a knee injury, undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito was thrust into action. While he looked better than he did in Week 8 against the New York Jets, the Raiders’ defense still took advantage.
One of the players who has performed at that level all season is star edge rusher, Maxx Crosby. His performance has been the stat that Paul Gutierrez of ESPN has identified as the one that defines the first half of the 2023 regular season for the Raiders.
“Edge rusher Maxx Crosby has played 98% of defensive snaps through nine games. The two-time Pro Bowler rarely comes off the field. In fact, Crosby, who is leading Las Vegas with 9.5 of the team’s 24 sacks and is coming off his third career three-sack game, has missed only two defensive snaps in the Raiders’ past six games,” Gutierrez wrote.
The most important ability is availability and Crosby has been elite in that regard. Not only is he extremely productive when on the field, but his presence opens up opportunities for his teammates to succeed as opposing teams focus all of their attention on him.
While the playoffs are a long shot for the Raiders this season, the culture change that occurred with Pierce taking over could propel them to success. As long as Crosby can stay on the field anchoring the defense, the results should start to follow with a more motivated roster.
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