Make California Post a Preferred Source The temptation is sitting right there for the Raiders.
Three wins. No losses. A growing sense that something different is happening in Las Vegas.
For all the encouragement the Raiders’ 3-0 start has generated, their star defensive end sees a potential trap tucked inside the celebration. Winning can validate the work. It can also convince a team that the work is finished.
“It’s good and bad, you know, I feel like it’s so early,” Crosby said.
The danger, he explained, is allowing a promising September to become something bigger in the minds of everyone responsible for building it.
“You don’t want to take the cheese and fall into the trap, ‘Oh, my God, we made it. We figured it out. We’re here now,” he warned.
Especially with the 3-0 Chiefs coming to Allegiant Stadium.
The Raiders have earned the opportunity to approach that divisional matchup with confidence. They have won without Brock Bowers, then welcomed him back into an offense that immediately benefited from his presence. They have found different ways to win, including overcoming an 11-point second-half deficit against the Saints.
Those are meaningful developments for a team trying to establish an identity under coach Klint Kubiak.
But Crosby’s point is that establishing something and sustaining it are two different challenges. The Raiders have handled the first three weeks. Nothing about that guarantees what comes next.
“You have to be focused on what the mission is,” Crosby said. “And I’ve said it, multiple times, but you don’t make the playoffs at three wins.”
He has spent too much of his Raiders career watching promising moments fade into familiar disappointment. He understands how badly the franchise and its fans want evidence that better days have arrived.
An undefeated start supplies some of that proof. It also creates an understandable urge to skip ahead, to imagine where this could lead and what the Raiders might finally become.
The best way to give this start lasting meaning is to keep doing the things that made it possible. Preparation. Accountability. The willingness to address mistakes even when the final score provides an excuse to overlook them.
The victory in New Orleans demonstrated the Raiders’ resilience, but it also exposed issues that could become increasingly costly.
Their running game struggled to produce consistently.
Red-zone opportunities ended without touchdowns.
Their defense spent much of the afternoon searching for ways to disrupt Saints quarterback Tyler Shough.
The Raiders overcame those problems with a furious finish, forcing turnovers on the Saints’ final four possessions and scoring 19 unanswered points.
That says something important about their ability to respond.
It also leaves them with a legitimate question: How much better could they be if they stopped creating trouble for themselves?
That is where the attention belongs this week. The comeback should reinforce their belief that they can handle adversity. The mistakes that made it necessary should command just as much attention.
Winning makes those conversations easier to receive. It cannot make them optional.
Crosby’s message applies to both sides of that equation. There is value in recognizing progress, provided it sharpens the desire to improve.
The Chiefs offer an immediate test of that approach.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Crosby said. “We have a huge divisional opponent, Kansas City Chiefs. We know how important this is and how big of a challenge it is.”
The significance hardly needs embellishing. An undefeated Raiders team hosting a hated divisional rival gives the Silver-and-Black precisely the kind of game that can energize a stadium and capture attention beyond it.
For Kubiak’s team, it also presents another chance to show that the foundation being established can support bigger expectations.
Those expectations, though, cannot help the Raiders execute a third-down assignment or finish a drive near the goal line. That comes back to the work Crosby keeps emphasizing.
His message leaves room to appreciate the victories. It simply puts a limit on how long the Raiders can admire them.
“You can’t focus on the past,” Crosby said. “We just got to focus on the day to day and dominate the details.”
That might sound less exciting than discussing playoff possibilities or announcing the Raiders’ arrival. It is also a much more useful way to approach the next game.
The confidence they have earned should travel with them. So should the understanding that each victory has included lessons worth carrying forward.
There will be plenty of discussion outside the building about what the Raiders’ record means and where this season might lead.
Inside, Crosby wants the conversation centered on the next assignment, the next practice and the next detail that needs correcting.
“And that’s really been our focus,” he said, “and that’s what’s gotten us to where we’re at so far.”
Three wins have given the Raiders something to build on.
