The Las Vegas Raiders are off to a 1-0 start after their 27-13 win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 at Allegiant Stadium. With new defensive coordinator Rob Leonard leading the way, the Silver and Black’s defense made life challenging for the Dolphins’ offense.
Las Vegas recorded five sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble. Moreover, the Raiders defense didn’t stay on the field when they didn’t need to, as Miami’s offense went 2-for-10 on third down.
One of the players who showed up in the sack column was Maxx Crosby. Furthermore, Crosby’s 1.5 sacks against the Dolphins on Sept. 13 brought the veteran to 71 career sacks. After the game, Crosby spoke about passing the 70 career sack milestone.
“It means the world,” Crosby told reporters after the win over the Dolphins. “You put everything into it. Every single day I sacrifice to go out there and help my team win and do everything in my power to help us get to where we need to go.
“It’s cool seeing those things and seeing the response from the fans. It’s extremely special and something I’m extremely grateful for. Definitely seeing that is awesome, but we got a lot of work to do. The fans were extremely loud, especially on third down.”
Maxx Crosby Puts the Spotlight on the Las Vegas Defense
While Crosby hit a career milestone in the win over Miami, the Raiders’ leader on defense wanted to spotlight the entire unit, since they made Dolphins QB Malik Willis‘ afternoon difficult.
“We came to play,” Crosby noted. “Everyone played their role, and obviously on the back end, they did a great job. Our DBs and linebackers were flying around and being on the same page. So just playing together, playing as one. When you play complementary football, the offense did a great job of staying on the field and having long drives, and we were fresh and able to roll.
“I thought it was just a good game overall. It could be better, though. Overall, I think offense and defense, even special teams having that long return, there’s things we can get better at, and we know that. But I think it was a good start.”
Raiders Defense Forced Dolphins’ Malik Willis to Beat Them
Willis went 15-for-27 for 220 passing yards, zero touchdown passes, and a passer rating of 66.9 against the Raiders defense when throwing the football. Moreover, the Raiders defense forced Miami to rely on the pass with Willis as they shut down the run, with De’Von Achane logging only 36 rushing yards. Achane also didn’t have any impact in the passing game as he only recorded 30 receiving yards.
“I think Robbie did a great job with the game plan,” Crosby said. “He had us prepared very well. Achane obviously is a great player. He’s extremely explosive, fast and quick, and just a dynamic type of guy. So you got to be all hands on deck trying to stop him, and I feel like we did some good things. But like I said, we can improve.”
Raiders’ Maxx Crosby Gets Real After Passing 70 Career Sacks