Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby was quick to play down an apparent altercation with assistant coach Mike Caldwell during their 32-13 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday.
Crosby pushed Caldwell in the chest, using both hands, late in the fourth quarter, clearly surprising Caldwell. He insisted, however, it was a “love push” and said both men were “alpha males”.
Without context, it’s hard to judge but if you’re strictly looking at this from the outside, it’s not a good look IF Maxx Crosby is shoving a Raiders assistant coach.
pic.twitter.com/yt2OsTbHVv— RaiderRamble.com™ (@TheRaiderRamble) October 13, 2024
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My phone is blowing up – Crosby
“I have my phone blowing up as I’m in the cold tub, trying to get ready for next week already, and people, you know how they do it – they just spin narratives,” Crosby said.
“Mike Caldwell’s a great dude. We have a great relationship and we do that all the time. It’s like people look at it, ‘Oh, they’re losing and then Maxx pushes him.’
“That’s how we play football – we’re grown men, we’re alpha males, we don’t greet each other the same. So he was hyping me up and I hyped him up.
“We’re down, but it just showed we’re not quitting.
“There’s literally zero. It’s completely made up out of dust. The camera, they made it look bad. It looked like I was throwing him out of the club, but that was not what happened at all.”
Mike Caldwell Is My Guy. One Of The Best People In The Business. Thats A Love Push, Stop Reaching. #RN4L
— Maxx Crosby (@CrosbyMaxx) October 13, 2024
‘We have to respond’
Sunday’s defeat saw the Raiders slip to 2-4 on the season with coach Antonio Pierce accepting it was “not good enough”, but Crosby was remaining positive and backed the team to respond.
He added: ”You can fall into the crowd and be like everybody else and be negative and sad. [But] I’m blessed to be able to play this game. I would play if I made zero dollars doing it. I love doing this s***. I live it every day, so it doesn’t stop me.
“The outside world’s going to try to find everything to bring us down, and rightfully so after a game like that. It’s bulls***. We’ve got to find ways to get better, and it sucks for the fans. I want them to see the best version of us, and we haven’t been able to do that.
“So, unfortunately, we lost, but we have to respond. That’s literally all we can do.”
