Raiders' Crosby on the Dominance of Modern-Day Defenses

Las Vegas Raiders' star Maxx Crosby spoke on why defenses have dominated offenses early in the 2024 season.

Oct 6, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Scoring is down across the NFL for another season. 

According to an NBC Sports report, the average points per game across the league has decreased for the fifth consecutive year as of last month. 

Water has started to reach level in the last few weeks, but overall, offensive coordinators have not been able to figure out certain defensive formations. There have not been as many explosive plays this season, either. 

Whether because defensive coordinators are getting smarter or because having two high safeties on defense is simply too complex for coaches to figure out, defenses have looked better than offenses this season. 

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby offered his thoughts on why this is the case on the latest episode of his podcast, "The Rush."

“I don’t know the exact reasoning, but I feel like coordinators are getting better, teams are getting better, and it’s just about tendencies,” he said. “It’s a copycat league. So, people are starting to catch on to little s---. If you’re playing two shell, forcing teams to take profit, check it down. A lot of people don’t want to do that. So, it makes your job hard. Especially young quarterbacks who want to push the ball downfield and do things like that. You’ve seen it with [Patrick] Mahomes. Mahomes is checking down the ball like crazy, but it’s working. So, you gotta do what you gotta do. So, I feel like the league just continues to evolve.”

Crosby says it is a cyclical process, and the defensive side of the ball is currently the dominant side. 

“It goes in ebbs and flows," he said. "You talk about, ‘Oh, it’s an offensive league, and now you see there’s a lot of defenses out here eating. So, yeah, I feel like that’s just the NFL. It just goes in ebbs and flows, for sure.”

There was a recent debate about whether or not two-high safeties should be banned across the NFL. Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. suggested it to fix the league’s offensive problem but was met with significant blowback. 

As NFL offenses adjust to defenses this season, it will be interesting to see what defensive coordinators respond with. 

Click here to watch the full episode of Crosby’s podcast.

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