In the Las Vegas Raiders' rousing 27-13 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, star defensive end Maxx Crosby was expectedly a big winner. And as Raider Nation always knew, Crosby didn't need to play every snap to have a big impact on the outcome of the game.
Klint Kubiak made it "his call" and did what every other Raiders coach in the last few years was unwilling to do, which is sit Crosby for portions of the game. Crosby is known for being an iron man and a stalwart up front in Las Vegas, but a balance needed to be struck for his sake and the team's.
Honestly, it made all the difference for the Silver and Black.
Crosby being sidelined at points in the contest allowed others to get involved and establish a rhythm, while he simultaneously got to take a breather and was ultimately fresher later in the ballgame to finish things out. Plus, he can manage his aging and recently injury-prone body better.
It was a needed change. Kubiak finally provided it.
Raiders' Klint Kubiak did not play Maxx Crosby on every snap against the Dolphins
The Raiders simply couldn't justify playing Crosby as much coming off his second-straight campaign cut short by injury. We touched on this during training camp, and Kubiak delivered during the season opener against the Dolphins, as he only played Crosby on 45 of a possible 55 defensive snaps.
That is an 81.8% defensive snap share.
This was exactly the kind of change that the fanbase clamored for, as playing fewer snaps, especially unnecessary ones, will increase his longevity. Crosby was still out there a ton, as he should be, but Las Vegas kept him fresher for later in the game and in the season by sidelining him just for a bit.
One has to go back to Week 12 of the 2023 NFL season to find the last game in which Crosby played fewer than 82% of the defensive snaps, excluding two blowout games in that timeframe. Looking at the stat sheet, though, nobody would know that Crosby sat out at all. And he came alive at the end.
1.5 sacks, eight pressures, three quarterback hits, five hurries, a run stop and two tackles is still a great showing. In fact, that's more pressures than Crosby had in a game last year, and more sacks than all but two. And the bulk of that production came in the fourth quarter, when it was needed most.
Had he played every single snap in the first half, perhaps Crosby wouldn't have come through on Sunday. Or maybe he would have, but the wear and tear on his body would catch up to him late in the year. Sitting 10 snaps every week could mean around 200 fewer snaps in a season. That is significant.
Especially when one considers the beating that Crosby takes, as he frequently faces double teams and chips blocks. We're talking about getting hit hard roughly three times per play. So, that may be 600 fewer hits over the course of the season. You think that'll help him play longer?
Raiders' defense wasn't as good, but held up just fine without Maxx Crosby on the field
Crosby went to the sidelines for the first few plays of the Dolphins' third possession, and immediately, the Raiders started getting driven on. But they bent and didn't break, and Crosby came in toward the end of the posession to put a bow on things and limit Miami to a field goal.
The plan can be to sit Crosby for an entire drive, and Kubiak can always put him in if things get dicey. With reinforcements on the edge this year, Las Vegas is finally equipped to survive without Crosby being a superhero and never leaving the field, no matter how many chips and double teams he faces.
But this year, opposing teams can't quite gameplan for Crosby in the same way that they have in the past. The Raiders added reinforcements on the edge and have some solid pass rushers coming from both the defensive tackle and linebacker spots.
Kwity Paye chipped in eight pressures of his own on Sunday and is currently tied for the league lead with 2.0 sacks. Malcolm Koonce also notched three pressures, and both Tonka Hemingway and Jonah Laulu added a pair of pressures as well, with the team totalling 27 against the Dolphins.
For reference, the Raiders had 27 pressures in the opener last year, and they recorded 29 in the backup bowl in Week 18. Every other week, they had fewer. So, this was a great showing from the pass rush, and Crosby didn't even need to play every single snap for the team to accomplish that.
Finally, after years of begging the Silver and Black's coaching staff to protect Crosby and help his longevity and closing ability by playing him fewer snaps, Kubiak answered the call in his first game. And there's no reason to change this approach going forward.
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