Raiders' Maxx Crosby did not dance around the truth after his team dumped offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Coming off a 24-10 loss to the Browns in which the offense surrendered 10 sacks and managed just 268 yards, the star pass rusher flatly said what everyone could see: the unit had been bad for weeks, and a change was inevitable.
With Las Vegas sitting at 2-9, ranking near the bottom of the league in yards and points, Kelly’s brief, expensive run as the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator was always going to end one way.
Now comes the twist: according to The New York Times, this mess has Tom Brady’s fingerprints all over it. Per the report, quarterbacks coach Greg Olson has been promoted to offensive coordinator after Kelly’s firing, and minority owner Brady was one of the strongest internal voices pushing to bring Kelly in to run the offense in the first place.
The Times adds that Brady has privately expressed disappointment with how the Raiders have performed and that his frustration extends beyond just the offensive side of the ball. In other words, the guy who helped sell the move is now unhappy with the way his investment looks on the field.
That dynamic raises fair questions about where the blame really lands. Kelly’s scheme never clicked, but ownership and the front office empowered him, handed him top-of-the-market money, and tied the offense to his vision in Year 1 of Pete Carroll’s return.
Olson inherits a battered, confidence-shot group and has to fix protections, simplify the passing game, and at least make the unit functional over the final stretch, all while knowing the minority owner who helped drive the previous hire is watching closely.
Crosby’s own sideline blow-up captured the frustration boiling over. Cameras caught him in a heated exchange with linebacker Elandon Roberts during the Browns' loss. Later, on the “Let’s Go!” podcast, Crosby brushed off any talk of dysfunction, saying moments like that are part of football and likening it to brothers fighting because they care so much about winning.
For now, the Raiders are playing for pride and draft position, with the Chargers up next and a brutal schedule to close. Olson gets his audition, Carroll fights to prove he is still the right voice, and Brady’s influence on the next round of offensive decisions will be impossible to ignore. If Las Vegas is looking for culprits in the Chip Kelly debacle, it goes well beyond the man who just got fired.
