
There is no denying that Las Vegas Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby is one of the premier defenders in all of football. Regardless of how the Raiders as a team are doing, no one can question that Crosby is giving everything he has to help his team win. No one except for Aqib Talib, that is.
Talib, the retired Denver Broncos cornerback, is a member of The Arena football show and brought up Crosby’s name in defense of criticism directed at Green Bay Packers pass rusher Micah Parsons regarding his perceived inability to stop the run. Talib mentioned that Crosby is also unable to do so, while not receiving anywhere near the criticism that Parsons does, and pointed to the Raiders’ poor run defense as a team as proof.
In the latest edition of The Rush with Maxx Crosby, the Raiders star responded to Talib and basically brushed off the criticism, believing him to be ‘uneducated’ on what he does on the field and asking him to watch the tape:
“You can’t get mad at somebody that’s uneducated in the situation. It is what it is. He can sit there and say whatever. Cause I think honestly, he started talking about, I think he was, it was more in defense of Micah [Parsons], the whole conversation. And everyone knows, you know, me and Micah are boys and we’re a couple of the best defense players in the world. He was talking basically out of the argument started, cause I’m not the person to take the clip and ‘Okay, I’m gonna just look at the clip and then just take that.”
No, I’m gonna see what the f— we’re talking about. And they were, basically; they were trying to like disrespect Micah and say he doesn’t stop the run. And then Talib was defending Micah by basically sh—ing on me, saying, ‘Well, Maxx doesn’t either.”
“And I’m like, ‘Come on, bro. I don’t even have to defend myself. Go look up the numbers, go look up the tape, go watch me play a football game. Go watch the game I played on Thursday.’”
Simply put, the shot at Crosby is unwarranted and, as Crosby put it, uneducated. Crosby missed a large portion of last season, but in 2023, his 90 tackles were the most of any player with at least 10 sacks, and only Danielle Hunter had more than 80. Crosby also led the NFL in tackles for loss that season.
In 2022, Crosby’s 89 combined tackles were 15 more than any player with at least 10 sacks, proving again that he does far more than just rush the passer.
The Raiders star stopped short of really calling out Talib, even noting how the comments were disappointing because he had spent time with Talib and his family while working out at Talib’s gym prior to his senior season at Eastern Michigan. Crosby even invited Talib to come to his home so they can watch tape together, and perhaps then, Talib will realize that in this case, he is flat out wrong.
The Raiders recently traded one of their veteran leaders, wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and in a classy move, Meyers sent a special message to his former team after the deal.
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