Two leaders sent to the sideline
Klint Kubiak had seen enough. The Raiders coach pulled quarterback Kirk Cousins and pass rusher Maxx Crosby out of Saturday’s training camp practice, one day after the two veterans went chest to chest during a heated Friday session in Las Vegas.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business, and we violated that yesterday,” Kubiak said. He spoke to the group and to both players, who are cleared to return Monday.
The flashpoint was simple. Crosby struck Cousins on the throwing arm a second time, Cousins shouted and stepped into his chest, and one of two fights broke out on the field. Kubiak said he expected more from two men the locker room looks to.
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A rookie seizes the opening
With Cousins in the penalty box, the door swung open for Fernando Mendoza. The No. 1 overall pick ran the first-team offense on Saturday and looked sharp by the finish, connecting again and again with tight end Brock Bowers, the name everyone in camp keeps repeating. Cousins, days from his 38th birthday, is still set to open the season as the starter while Mendoza learns the speed of the pro game.
Crosby’s temperature has been a talking point all summer. He was traded to the Ravens this offseason, only for Baltimore to void the deal after what it called a failed physical. Back in Las Vegas, he and the staff sat down before camp to discuss his edge on the practice field, partly to keep him healthy as he works back from knee surgery.
Pushing the line
Crosby did not hide from it. “I got up a whole textbook full of rules that I got to follow, or I’m going to get in trouble, but that comes with it,” he said. “I practice one way. I know that I push the line, and sometimes I go over the line.” Kubiak framed the intensity as something to manage rather than crush, valuable when it stays inside the whistle and costly when it does not.
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