Another week, another loss for the Las Vegas Raiders. The frustration is mounting, and it isn’t just about the scoreboard. Issues were cropping up internally after head coach Pete Carroll blamed the locker room for their 24-17 loss against the Denver Broncos. But star player Maxx Crosby has publicly challenged his coach’s narrative.

“I don’t think energy is our problem,” Crosby said. “There’s a lot of things that need to be better across the board. Simple as that.”

The breaking point came when Carroll suggested that locker-room issues and energy lapses contributed to the Raiders’ latest defeat. Crosby pushed hard against that narrative, making clear that desire and mindset are not the problem with this team.

Those “things across the board,” Crosby said, point to structure, discipline, and execution, areas overwhelmingly shaped by the head coach.

So, the star defender’s message couldn’t be clearer: The Raiders need corrections, not excuses. Those corrections need to be made by the staff, beginning with Carroll, whose team continues to commit the same problems over and over every week. The Raiders are 2-11 this season and got eliminated from playoff contention after their 31-14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

From the looks of it, Crosby eased the psychological burden of near-endless defeat, suggesting that relief will come not from agonizing over results but from eliminating the persistent flaws.

“It doesn’t,” he said of his team’s losing streak and the impact it has had. “You got to just keep playing. You work year-round to have 17 games. I’m blessed to be here, and I know my teammates feel the same.”

Following the defeat, Crosby again zeroed in on the on-field issues.

“We got to find ways to get off the field and stop having self-inflicted wounds and learn from it.” Missed assignments, failures on third down, and avoidable mistakes have all factored into the team’s implosion, and in Crosby’s estimation, these are things that are fixable but require firm guidance.

Crosby has been one of the most dominant defenders in the NFL, leading his team and placing among league leaders in tackles for loss, sacks, and total disruption, so often against constant double-teams. He has been the lone beacon of consistency in a season that seems to be drowning in disappointment.

Just before Sunday’s game, the Raiders named Crosby their 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee, the league’s most prestigious individual honor. The player will wear the Walter Payton decal for the remainder of the season as part of the recognition. Even through the constant adversity, Crosby has produced at an elite level.

After another loss, while Crosby defended the energy and commitment of his teammates, coach Pete Carroll leaned in the other direction.

Head coach Pete Carroll points to locker-room issues

Reflecting on third-down failures, which had once again affected his team, Carroll didn’t mince his words when he said, “This game, we didn’t control the running game like we normally do.”

He wasn’t the only one, with offensive lineman Alex Cappa saying, “We need to execute better. Obviously, we’re not winning games, so we’re not good enough to get Deuce [Ashton Jeanty] going. We’re not scoring enough points so overall we just got to execute better.”

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While Pete Carroll didn’t acknowledge that his team fought, he did admit that the Raiders continue to collapse in crucial moments.

“Our guys are fighting,” he said. “They’re trying to keep this thing going, trying to get ourselves a chance to win a game, but there’s just a couple aspects of it that we’re not able to hold up. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Here’s the thing, though: the team has been depending on several young players in critical positions. They have even younger players in reserve roles who rarely see the field. Considering how the season has gone so far, it might be time for the Raiders’ coaching staff to make some important changes.

Moving forward, the Raiders will face last season’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, but the reality is clear: this season is almost done for Las Vegas. But adding to the intrigue, Maxx Crosby’s comment underscored the deeper issues plaguing the locker room that head coach Pete Carroll himself acknowledged.