There’s this thing you notice around the league when it comes to Maxx Crosby. It’s that no matter what he accomplishes, no matter how many times he wrecks a game, there always seems to be this element of surprise.
His own interim head coach was skeptical at first about just what kind of force Crosby was and his tremendous work ethic. He quickly found out.
“When I first got here, he jumped off to me, like this guy is in the building at 6am, doesn’t leave until 6pm,” Antonio Pierce said of Crosby. “Then you watch him practice, I remember Denzel Perryman was like, ‘AP you haven’t seen nothing like this.’ I’m like, ‘I’ve seen guys work hard and effort.’ And no, he’s right, I have not. I have not ever seen a player be consistent like Maxx Crosby.”
Pierce added that Crosby’s energy, purpose, and mindset reminded him of when he played. And brought to mind players like Bruce Smith and Michael Strahan — two Hall of Fame defensive ends. Two of the best to ever do it. Keep in mind, Pierce was the starting middle linebacker on a Super Bowl winning team too.
Crosby runs so hot all the time that Pierce said he actually makes him worry whether the fifth year edge rusher can keep it up.
“You get nervous, you always wonder if he’s going get burnt out, but he’s not,” Pierce said. “I’m going to continue to keep trying to match his energy, but at a game, on that field, on that grass, you saw the effort. The way he plays is reckless. He gives up his body for his team.”
Maybe Pierce is touching on something there. Maxx himself has talked about how many analysts seems to discount his abilities as an “effort guy”
The shock often seems to suggest either they haven’t been paying attention before or seem to be judging him through the lens of his being a fourth round pick. And after heaping all the praise, they just revert back to the default position of getting behind the former first round guys like TJ Watt and Myles Garrett.
Just this morning I saw a sports network — who I won’t mention — put out their prediction for Defensive Player of the Year. Of the ten votes from their staff, half of them voted for Watt. Three others voted for Garrett. While only one voted for Maxx.
How does this happen? Crosby, Watt, and Garrett are all tied with 9.5 sacks. But Crosby leads the league in pressures (53) and tackles for loss (13). Neither Watt nor Garrett are even in the top ten in pressures or the top 15 in tackles for loss.
And there isn’t an edge rusher in the league who comes within a country mile of Crosby’s 56 combined tackles (35 solo). For comparison, Garrett has 25 combined tackles (19 solo) and Watt has 22 combined tackles (15 solo).
There simply is no better all-around defensive player in the league right now than Maxx Crosby. His Super Bowl winning interim coach has never seen anything like him, because Maxx is one of one.
It’s unfortunate he won’t be judged on an even plane to the likes of Watt and Garrett. Even leading them by wide margins in most categories isn’t enough to get Crosby his recognition.
