Ravens created even scarier monster in Raiders Maxx Crosby

Maxx Crosby looked fast, fit, electric — and downright terrifying — on the first day of Raiders training camp Wednesday.In other words, exactly how “The Condor” looks this time of year, as he ramps up to wreak havoc on anything in his path.That includes the unfortunate offensive linemen tasked with blocking him.

And, by extension, the quarterbacks they’re paid to protect.Which makes the Ravens’ decision to back out of a trade for Crosby last March look even more questionable.Baltimore got cold feet over the knee injury Crosby was rehabbing from at the time of the trade — concerns that prompted a sudden reversal after initially agreeing to send two first-round picks to the Raiders to acquire him. On Wednesday, though, there was no sign of hesitation, limitation or anything resembling diminished explosiveness.If anything, Crosby looked like a problem.An angry one.Which is exactly what the Ravens managed to create when they did the one thing you never do with someone wired like him: give him a personal edge.“They pissed him off,” an NFL team executive said.Crosby didn’t exactly dispute it Wednesday.Not directly, anyway.“It’s been a long offseason,” he said.

“But it’s a blessing in disguise.”Don’t believe it?Just ask his own quarterback, Kirk Cousins, who already sounds like a man trying to negotiate terms, reminding Crosby, and anyone within earshot, that quarterbacks are off limits this time of year.“I’m just a little bit nervous that he’s got to respect the red jersey these next few weeks,” Cousins said.“So I’ll try to make sure that happens.”Crosby hears it.

He just isn’t built to operate that way.“I just can’t tell you how many people have come up to me already like, ‘All right, so you know at practice you can’t do this,’” Crosby said.“I’ve got a whole textbook full of rules I’ve got to follow or I’m going to get in trouble.“But that comes with it.

I practice one way.I know I push the lin...