Raiders try to manage injured DE Maxx Crosby

HENDERSON, Nev. -- As a downtrodden Maxx Crosby sat at his locker following the Las Vegas Raiders' drubbing by the Carolina Panthers, electrical stimulation pads went to work on the edge rusher's injured left ankle.

The pulsating electrical nodes showed more life than the Raiders' defense did.

Indeed, as a clearly hampered Crosby went against Carolina, so, too, did the Raiders' suddenly phlegmatic defense. Talk about a symbiotic relationship between player and unit.

"Our effort, our energy, our passion, did not show up [Sunday] and that just can't always be 98," Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said of Crosby, referencing his uniform number. "Obviously, you know what 98's dealing with. You see it. He gave it all he had ... and we've got to protect the player. But more importantly, there's 10 other guys on the field; they've got to play to a high level. And we did that last week against Baltimore. Those guys did do that. We've just got to be consistently doing it.

"We didn't play bad because Maxx wasn't, like, Maxx [against Carolina], right? Maxx is still, at 80 percent, a lot better than any defensive end in the National Football League."

But Crosby's left high ankle sprain, suffered on the second-to-last play of the Raiders' emotional Week 2 comeback win at the Ravens, looked to leave him at something decidedly less than 80 percent in Las Vegas' home opener.

Against the Panthers, Crosby was limited to a relatively low 82% of Las Vegas' defensive snaps.

Crosby had not missed a defensive snap in a competitive game since Week 14 of last season (he played 60% of the defensive snaps in the Raiders' 63-21 Week 15 blowout of the Los Angeles Chargers). In fact, the last time he played fewer than 82% of the Raiders' defensive snaps in a competitive game was in the penultimate game of the 2021 season, at the Indianapolis Colts(81%).

He played in 95% of the Raiders' defensive snaps last season and had a career-high 14.5 sacks while being named second-team All-Pro and to making his third straight Pro Bowl -- despite playing with an injured left knee and a bad thumb, both of which required offseason surgery in January.

"Every time I go out there, I'm going to try to be out there with my teammates," said Crosby, who had three tackles but no QB hits for the first time since injuring the knee in Week 2 last year.

"So, if I'm 100% or 50%, that doesn't affect if I'm going to go out there. ... I mean, it didn't get any worse, so I'll be good."

But will the rest of the Raiders' defense rebound?

Malcolm Koonce, who started opposite Crosby at defensive end, was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered two days before the season opener.

Tyree Wilson, the No. 7 pick of the 2023 draft, missed the Baltimore game with a knee injury and has yet to make a significant impact, though he did have a QB hit against the Panthers. Charles Snowden, who shared a sack with defensive tackle Christian Wilkins against Carolina, and Janarius Robinson round out the Raiders' edge rushers.

Pierce has often talked about protecting Crosby from himself when it comes to giving him breaks.

With the Cleveland Browns coming to town next, how Crosby's ankle responds might dictate a game plan or snap count.

Might the Raiders shut down the notoriously hard-to-slow-down Crosby in practice?

"The thought is to play him if he's able to play," Pierce said. "If he's injured, then we'll protect the player. But Maxx is, he's different, man. He's a guy that's going to take everything, and [with] the God-given ability, to not allow him to play? If he has anything that he feels like he can do, we'll let him play.

"You've got your captain and your leader that wants to be out there with his players. So we've got to look at that going forward, of how we want to handle it."

But at what cost?