Maxx Crosby knows a thing or two about celebrating too early.
The Las Vegas Raiders should feel very good this morning. They deserve to relish their third consecutive win to open a new season. New head coach Klint Kubiak has his team playing good football, and the Raiders' comeback win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 3 delivered some real momentum for a young franchise. In the wake of such a feel-good moment, the Raiders were, well, feeling good.
But Crosby, the team's defensive anchor and emotional leader, knows that a regular-season win or even a string of September victories isn't going to cut it. After a quarter-century of watching every other AFC West rival claim supremacy in the division, the Raiders are tied for first place in the division with the primary challenger coming to town. Crosby knows that the next step is the biggest for the Raiders.
Kubiak and Crosby delivered messages after the game in a celebratory Raiders locker room. Kubiak fostered the mood with positive coachspeak, and the players responded. In short, he said what every head coach should say after such a victory.
Resilience on display. #LVvsNO | #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/UiBCFfcvJk
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 28, 2026
Maxx Crosby quickly turns Raiders’ attention toward Chiefs
"Hey guys, that's what resilience looks like, okay?" said Kubiak. "That's you guys believing in each other, kay? Fightin 'til the very end. So proud of you. So proud of the effort. All right guys, last thing here. Listen. You're 3-0 because of the type of people that you are: how hard you work, how much you care about each other, how important it is to you, okay?
From there, however, Kubiak also laid the groundwork for the warning Crosby brought to the table. "So let's dial it back in," said Kubiak. "We all know what's coming into our place. So let's get healthy. Let's get the film right, okay? And then let's just keep doing this. It's getting closer and closer together as we keep winning these tough games."
Crosby anchored the team-released video with an emotional shift and a stern warning. "Like you said, man, it's a great win, but we've got a f***ing great team coming into town. We already know what it is, bro. It's the f***ing Kansas City Chiefs. Enjoy this tonight. Take care of your bodies, and we're on a warpath to get what we want."
Crosby knows how quickly Chiefs can spoil Raiders’ momentum
The messaging makes sense. Crosby has walked off the field as a loser in 11 of his 13 career games against Kansas City. Despite doing his best to help the Raiders get the best of their rivals, with 16 quarterback hits and 6 sacks of Patrick Mahomes since 2019, Crosby has felt the sting of defeat at an alarming rate over the last seven years.
Even the Raiders' wins over the Chiefs in that time came back to embarrass them. In 2020, the Raiders put up a valiant effort in a surprising Week 5 upset of the Chiefs, and Jon Gruden had his team take a victory lap around Arrowhead Stadium. It turned out to be the team's Super Bowl, as the 8-8 Raiders watched the 14-2 Chiefs win the division.
It's important to note that the Raiders have won without Crosby before. Just last year, Crosby missed a late-season win for Las Vegas, so perhaps younger players in the locker room aren't as haunted by the spectre of another meeting with the Chiefs. But Crosby is watching the Chiefs roll into Sin City with the same 3-0 momentum that the Raiders are enjoying now. Someone is going to go home a loser, and Crosby is used to being on that end of things when Andy Reid is involved. Hence the reason he's trying to rally some help to keep it from happening once again.
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