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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff WriterOct 13, 2024, 09:14 PM ET
- Paul Gutierrez joined NFL Nation in 2013 and serves as its Las Vegas Raiders reporter. He has a multi-platform role – writing on ESPN.com, television appearances on NFL Live and SportsCenter, and podcast and radio appearances. Before coming to ESPN, Gutierrez spent three years at CSN Bay Area as a multi-platform reporter, covering the Raiders and Oakland Athletics as well as anchoring the SportsNet Central cable news show. Gutierrez votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame and is also a member of the Professional Football Writers of America and currently serves as the PFWA’s Las Vegas chapter president. He is also a member of the California Chicano News Media Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Gutierrez has authored three books: Tommy Davis’ Tales from the Dodgers Dugout, 100 Things Raiders Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die and If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Raiders Sideline, Locker Room and Press Box with Lincoln Kennedy. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PGutierrezESPN
LAS VEGAS — As frustrating a day as Maxx Crosby had in the Las Vegas Raiders‘ 32-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher said his late-game sideline shove of assistant coach Mike Caldwell was a “love push.”
The incident was caught by CBS cameras after Crosby’s shared sack of Justin Fields with defensive tackle John Jenkins late in the game.
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“I have my phone blowing up as I’m in the cold tub, trying to get ready for next week already, and people, you know how they do it — they just spin narratives,” Crosby said with a laugh. “Mike Caldwell’s a great dude. We have a great relationship and we do that all the time. It’s like people look at it, ‘Oh, they’re losing and then Maxx pushes him.'”
Caldwell, who played 11 seasons as a linebacker in the NFL, is the Raiders’ run game coordinator/linebackers coach.
“That’s how we play football — we’re grown men, we’re alpha males, we don’t greet each other the same,” Crosby added. “So he was hyping me up and I hyped him up.
“We’re down, but it just showed we’re not quitting.”
Crosby then spent several seconds looking at cameras in the postgame scrum at his locker and said, “I love Mike Caldwell” three times, and “That’s my guy” twice.
“There’s literally zero … it’s completely made up out of dust,” Crosby said. “The [CBS] camera, they made it look bad. It looked like I was throwing him out of the club, but that was not what happened at all.”
Maxx Crosby and the Raiders lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday. Getty Images
Crosby laughed about the incident, but neither he, nor Raiders coach Antonio Pierce, were in a joking mood about the state of the team after three turnovers and a blocked punt contributed to a loss dropping Las Vegas’ record to 2-4.
“Our record is what it [is] … it’s not good enough,” Pierce said. “We’re not coaching well enough, we’re not playing well enough, and we’re not detailing well enough. More importantly, when you turn the ball over, you don’t give yourself a chance.
“It starts with discipline — we [only] had four penalties, but they were at critical moments. The turnover thing is embarrassing. We don’t respect the ball enough, so we don’t even deserve a chance to put ourselves into position to win.”
The Raiders’ turnover differential for the season is an NFL-worst minus-10, their worst through six games since 2006, per ESPN Research. That turnover margin is also the worst through six games in the NFL since the 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Las Vegas has been outscored 39-14 off turnovers this season, tied for the second-worst mark in the league.
Said Crosby, who now has a team-leading 5.5 sacks in five games: “You can fall into the crowd and be like everybody else and be negative and sad. [But] I’m blessed … blessed to be able to play this game. I would play if I made zero dollars doing it. I love doing this s—. I live it every day, so it doesn’t stop me.
“The outside world’s going to try to find everything to bring us down, and rightfully so after a game like that. It’s bulls—. We’ve got to find ways to get better, and it sucks for the fans. I want them to see the best version of us, and we haven’t been able to do that.
“So, unfortunately, we lost, but we have to respond. That’s literally all we can do.”
