Turns out starting Aidan O'Connell didn't save the Raiders' season.
One week after Antonio Pierce decided to make a change, things looked awfully similar in the Raiders' second straight blowout loss, and third loss in their last four games. O'Connell played like everyone expected O'Connell to – which is to say, just okay – and the Raiders' defense didn't have a ton of answers for Justin Fields.
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Letting the Steelers put up 32 points, a week after letting the Broncos put up 34, was the latest rough performance from a defense that just hasn't been able to recover from key injuries. Whether it's just performance related, or the fact that he has to answer a dozen different Davante Adams questions every week, or the fact that he's playing through a somewhat-serious ankle injury, it's easy to see that this season is wearing on Maxx Crosby.
Those frustrations clearly came to a head on Sunday, as TV cameras caught Crosby shoving an assistant coach while running off the field.
Maxx Crosby gets caught on camera shoving assistant coach during Week 6 loss
The Chiefs are on a bye so let’s check in on the Raiders: pic.twitter.com/YRXjb3Ztn7
— Patrick Allen (@RPatrickAllen) October 13, 2024
Yeahhhhhhh not a great look from Crosby. Not super sure how he defends this one, if he even chooses to. His frustration is certainly understandable – the Raiders season has gone off the rails since beating the Ravens in Baltimore, and fighting through a high ankle sprain to play in a season that already feels increasingly pointless is probably infuriating. He said it himself this week – he's been dealing with this for his entire career.
All that being said, I bet there's another round of internal business decision happening in the Raiders' building this week. It's not like players blowing up on the sideline is anything new, but Crosby obviously knows that he can't shove coaches like that. On top of that, having TV cameras catch it all doesn't make it worse, but definitely makes it more embarrassing. This is what it looks like when seasons start going down the drain. And you thought the Crosby trade rumors were bad before this week.