Raiders Announce Maxx Crosby Injury Update Before Jaguars Game
Maxx Crosby and the Las Vegas Raiders will face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in Week 9.
Las Vegas is 2-5, having beaten the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans.
Crosby has played a big role on defense and has proven he is one of the best at his position in the NFL. The defensive end has 18 solo tackles, four sacks one forced fumble and one interception.
Before facing the Jaguars, Crosby was listed on the injury report with a back injury. It’s something he was dealing with ahead of the Week 7 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Crosby then suffered a left knee injury in the second quarter of that game and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest. It turned out his knee was OK, but the back injury remained an issue. He did not practice on Wednesday, was limited on Thursday and practiced in full on Friday.
Later on Friday, the Raiders announced an update to his status for Sunday’s game. They left him off the injury report, meaning Crosby is good to go.
Crosby is in his seventh season in the NFL after the Raiders drafted him in 2019. He’s a two-time second-team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler.
Kickoff between the Raiders and the Jaguars is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET.
Unfortunate reality might be setting in for Harrison Brunicke
The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their Saturday matinee to the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 in which they started slow and could never recover in time. But there was more than just a slow start and a defeat to one of the Western Conference's best teams, that was a tough pill to swallow.
The Penguins will have to make a tough decision soon on if they should send 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke back to his junior team or keep him in the NHL. But after Saturday's game, it feels like that decision might have been made already.
In the contest, Brunicke just generally looked lost in his own zone and was the direct cause of the Jets second goal of the game which came early in the first period. Brunicke was doing his best to block a cross-crease pass and did not get his stick down in time. So, Jets forward Brad Lambert had a backdoor tap-in to make it 2-0 Jets early in the first.
Defenseman like Brunicke are going to want to do everything they can to get their sticks down and in position to block the cross-crease pass. Brunicke did not and the result showed. He also did not have inside positioning on Lambert so Lambert was able to box him out and score the goal.
It definitely seems like with the way head coach Dan Muse has been scratching Brunicke and playing him every now and then, that sending him back to his junior team is becoming inevitable. That kind of load management does not bode well for his chances of staying with the Penguins.
It might be ideal for him to get one more year in juniors and then be fully ready next season. That is for Muse and general manager Kyle Dubas to decide, but the answer seems like it might be in the cards for Brunicke.
