Maxx Crosby has taken another swipe at the Las Vegas Raiders over their decision to bench him for their final two regular season games, stressing that playing to win is one of his ‘core principles’ in the sport.
The star defensive end was unhappy after being shut down for Sunday’s defeat to the New York Giants, a crucial game in the battle for the No 1 draft pick.
It means Las Vegas now holds the top pick heading into this weekend’s regular-season finale, which Crosby will also not be involved in as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Coach Pete Carroll recently claimed the 28-year-old had a knee injury that ‘looks too bad’, only for him to post footage of himself playing basketball and bouncing on a trampoline on social media at the weekend in an apparent dig at Raiders chiefs.
It was later revealed that he had walked out of the team’s training facility amid a spat over his injury, having reportedly been ‘fighting’ to play against the Giants.
As he prepares to miss out on Sunday’s Week 18 game, Crosby has insisted that he always wants to ‘play to win’ in what appears to be another shot at the franchise co-owned by Tom Brady.
Maxx Crosby has taken another swipe at the Raiders over their decision to shut him down
The defensive end shared footage of himself playing basketball and bouncing on a trampoline after being benched due to injury
‘When it comes to football, there’s certain things that I truly believe in,’ he said on Jim Gray’s ‘Let’s Go’ podcast this week. ‘And I feel like there’s core principles that you gotta live by, and there’s a certain way the game needs to be played. And there’s a certain approach that you have when you go into the field.
‘And the way you look at it, from my perspective, is you play to win. You play for your teammates, you put everything you have into the game, no matter what it is. There’s gonna be bumps and bruises. You’re gonna be banged up. That is a part of the game and the nature of the beast.
‘I never wanna look back and say I wish I would’ve, or I should’ve, done this. I’m all in, and I’ve been all in since day one, and everybody that’s with me on a daily basis knows my approach to this game.
‘They could say I might be on edge. Sometimes I might be. But at the end of the day, they know my intentions. And when you have real relationships and you lead by action instead of words, when you go out there and show the guys, this is how we do it, this is how you work, and you prove it every day, that holds a lot more weight than words. Yeah, I love the game, man. This is my whole life.’
On Saturday, Crosby posted several clips of himself shooting hoops at home, where he could be seen running around the court. In other photos, he could be seen jumping on a trampoline with his young daughter.
It is not entirely clear when the footage and photographs were taken but they were uploaded to Instagram a few hours after the Raiders confirmed he would miss the rest of the season.
Later in the evening it emerged that Crosby is expected to need surgery after being placed on season-ending injured reserve.
Head coach Pete Carroll has played down concerns over the future of Crosby in Las Vegas
Crosby signed a three-year, $106.5million contract extension with the Raiders back in March and is one of the best defensive players in the league.
But head coach Carroll revealed this week that the defensive end has been battling a knee injury since mid-October.
And his future is now clouded in uncertainty – despite Carroll dismissing suggestions of a rift in Las Vegas.
‘It was exactly like you would think he would [react] and how he should,’ the head coach said.
‘And I agree with him 1,000 percent on how he responded and I responded the same way. I get it. We fought our way through it and came to hopefully the right conclusion.’
