Raiders edge rushers ‘stay ready’ vs Ravens, wreak havoc on Lamar Jackson

I saw a stat shortly after the Raiders crazy win over the Ravens Monday night that said Lamar Jackson was pressured on over 50% of his dropbacks. That seems like a lot, and it is, but watching it, if you’d asked me how many times it seemed like Jackson was running for his life, I would have said it was even more often.

It honestly seemed like every time he took the snap, he had one of the Raiders edge rusher bearing down on him before he could even set his feet. It was unreal. Especially when you consider the Raiders have been one of the worst pass rushing teams in the league the past three seasons.

What was most impressive is the pressure never let up. From the first snap to the last, the Raiders were terrorizing Jackson. And they did it with a three-man rotation. Clelin Ferrell and Malcolm Koonce were both healthy scratches for the game, so the Raiders took the field with three active edge defenders. That was it. Just Maxx Crosby on one side, Yannick Ngakoue on the other, and Carl Nassib rotating in. And that trio never let up and never tired.

“For us we stay ready. We push each other every single day, so no matter who’s going to be up, we’re going to be ready,” said Crosby. “It was amazing. I don’t even know how many snaps we played, I really don’t know, but everybody was ready when their name was called. That was super encouraging to see and I think we did a great job today.”

As he has for the past two seasons, Crosby led the way for the Raiders. The third-year edge rusher had three sacks on Jackson, though he was only credited – at least initially – with two. Crosby is known for his energy and he was on another level in this game.