Vegas saw their arch-rivals, the Broncos, do a season sweep on their beloved Raiders on Sunday. This brought their season record to a 2-9, thereby all but confirming their playoff absence this season. Sitting firmly at the bottom of their division has got the Raiders already planning for their next season. However, their long-time defensive end, Maxx Crosby, is refusing to give up amid calls of tanking after 7th straight loss.

On a day when the Raiders didn’t have many positives out of their game. Crosby reached a personal milestone in just his 93rd career game in the NFL. After finishing with 5 tackles and three tackles for loss, Crosby has now recorded 100 career tackles for loss wearing the silver and black. Although he remains only the fourth player to ever reach that milestone within his first six seasons in the NFL, Crosby’s ambitions run deeper than personal records.

While the Raiders could be positioning themselves for a third-overall pick in next year’s draft. Crosby questions the Raiders’ front office mentality when asked whether the team is tanking after Sunday’s loss, “If we’re not playing to win, then what are we doing? I don’t play to get a better pick.” Well, Crosby didn’t just call shots on the Raiders approach for whatever is left of their season.

He rallied behind his locker room amid calls of tanking, “I know these guys are trying to win, and we got great players in this locker room and guys that put everything into it. So we’re just going to keep staying together and keep trying to find ways to win.” But this isn’t the first time this season the Raiders were called out for intentionally losing. Going back to their week 7 loss against the Rams, their head coach, Antonio Pierce, faced the same questions.

At that time, Pierce refused to believe they were tanking with still so much to play for, “There’s still a lot of football left. The season is not over. We’re not tanking. We’re not trying to lose games to do anything better for the future.” Well, right now, after 12 weeks of the NFL, the Raiders season is almost over. And it just got worse as their QB Gardner Minshew suffered a season-ending broken collarbone.

Gardner Minshew’s injury piles more misery on Antonio Pierce’s Raiders

Although the Raiders could be facing the heat of already planning for next year’s draft, their fans should also hop on that wagon. Because only a top young QB fresh out of college football can breathe the fresh air into this franchise. And now, with Minshew out for the season, the Raiders must bring a young prospect into their roster. Even their head coach, Antonio Pierce, is visibly upset seeing them lose QBs one after the other, “We’re going to need somebody, right? We’re running out of quarterbacks, too, now, so we’ll see what happens. But obviously, it looks like Aidan O’Connell is getting better. He threw a little bit in practice this week.”

Well, O’Connell could be back soon after suffering a broken thumb on his right hand last month. Without him, the Raiders are now left with Desmond Ridder, whom they just signed off the Cardinals practice squad. As for Ridder, he remains confident if Pierce decides to give him the nod next week, “I’ve been here almost a month, and how I feel comfortable with the offense. I’m ready to go. So whatever that situation may be, it’s not up to me. It’s up to the higher power. But I’m ready for any situation there may be.”

So, all eyes to Kansas City next week as the Raiders prepare to take on the reigning Champions. Although there isn’t much hope left of their season, it’s the NFL we are talking about. Who knows, the Raiders could string a surprise and bring some joy back to their fans.