Ahead of the Week 2 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers, Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was asked about game planning for Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby and praised the five-time Pro Bowler
“You talk about one of the guys in my career, one of the guys I respect the absolute most,” McDaniel said of Crosby during his Sept. 17 press conference. “He is upper echelon just because of the relentless drive and competitiveness: Play in, play out. It’s almost unmatched. So you play really good players every single week, and every single week they have pass rushers. NFL teams have pass rushers, and they’re generally pretty talented, but every so often there’s a guy that is a professional game wrecker.
“So you have to present to the players, and we obviously all of our guys know who Maxx Crosby is and have gone against him numerous times. But when you present it like, ‘Hey, this is how this defense plays when he’s able to be left to his own devices,’ you show the entire offense because it takes a group of people to stop a player of his caliber.”
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Last week, Crosby had a big game against McDaniel’s former team, the Miami Dolphins, coming alive in the second half to register 1.5 sacks and seal the Raiders’ win. Now, he’s the Chargers’ offense’s problem, and their coordinator is making sure that his unit constantly accounts for No. 98 on Sunday.
McDaniel was also in the running for the head coach job in Las Vegas this offseason before Klint Kubiak ultimately landed it. Kubiak and McDaniel come from the same Kyle Shanahan coaching tree too, so they likely have some familiarity with each other.
In Other Raiders’ Links:
- What did Fernando Mendoza do last week?: “Some plays take you a different way depending on coverage, depending if there’s a blitz,” Mendoza told The Athletic’s Sam Warren. “There’s some cans. There’s some alerts that get changed. There’s little tendencies in the plays that I have to remember.”
- Crosby talks offseason: “Everyone knows it was a crazy offseason, to say the least. I think I grew in a lot of ways,” via Warren. “Something my guy Tim Grover…he helped me the most with is, especially these last couple of years, just like mastering the art of being calm.”
- The rise of special teams: “New special teams boss Joe DeCamillis had the Silver & Black returning to form in the return, kick, and punt game,” S&BP’s Ray Aspuria wrote, “and while the coverage units have areas of opportunity, a pure-hustle play by recently signed wide receiver Cody White to run down and stymie a would-be kick return touchdown saved the day in Las Vegas’ impressive 27-13 Week 1 win over the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday.
- Week 2 key matchups: Diving into four battles to keep tabs on against the Chargers, including Ashton Jeanty versus Daiyan Henley.
