Raiders Maxx Crosby isnt taking bait despite perfect start: A lot of work to do
The temptation is sitting right there for the Raiders.Three wins.No losses.
A growing sense that something different is happening in Las Vegas.Maxx Crosby isn’t biting.For all the encouragement the Raiders’ 3-0 start has generated, their star defensive end sees a potential trap tucked inside the celebration.Winning can validate the work.
It can also convince a team that the work is finished.Crosby wants no part of that second possibility.“It’s good and bad, you know, I feel like it’s so early,” Crosby said.The danger, he explained, is allowing a promising September to become something bigger in the minds of everyone responsible for building it.“You don’t want to take the cheese and fall into the trap, ‘Oh, my God, we made it.We figured it out.
We’re here now,” he warned.Especially with the 3-0 Chiefs coming to Allegiant Stadium.The Raiders have earned the opportunity to approach that divisional matchup with confidence.They have won without Brock Bowers, then welcomed him back into an offense that immediately benefited from his presence.
They have found different ways to win, including overcoming an 11-point second-half deficit against the Saints.Those are meaningful developments for a team trying to establish an identity under coach Klint Kubiak.But Crosby’s point is that establishing something and sustaining it are two different challenges.The Raiders have handled the first three weeks.
Nothing about that guarantees what comes next.“You have to be focused on what the mission is,” Crosby said.“And I’ve said it, multiple times, but you don’t make the playoffs at three wins.”For Crosby, the distinction carries weight.He has spent too much of his Raiders career watching promising moments fade into familiar disappointment.
He understands how badly the franchise and its fans want evidence that better days have arrived.An undefeated start supplies some of that proof.It also creates an understandable urge to skip ahead, to imagine...