How can the NY Jets stop Maxx Crosby this week?

Crosby has three sacks in his last two games

NY Jets, Maxx Crosby
NY Jets, Maxx Crosby | Ethan Miller/GettyImages

I promise you, I don’t usually focus so much on the other team each and every week, but this is a perfect storm situation where Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby happens to be on a tear while the Jets’ biggest weakness last week was the sacks allowed.

Zach Wilson was sacked eight times on Monday night against the Los Angeles Chargers, which was both the most sacks the Chargers have gotten in a game this season and the most sacks allowed in a game by the Jets this season.

The performance has actually boosted Wilson's sack totals to 31, the second-highest total in the league, for a loss of 234 yards, also the second-highest number in the NFL.

This may look like an indictment on the offensive line that seems just as injured as last year’s edition of mainly the same players (go figure), but it’s actually more of an indictment on Wilson.

Zach Wilson needs to be better against Maxx Crosby and the Raiders

Wilson is tied for eighth in the league with the longest time to throw, and yet no one else in that top-eight time to throw is in the top-eight of sack yards lost.

That means that Wilson is literally using his extra time to go backward instead of forward and then still getting sacked instead of throwing the ball away.

This is great news for the talented Maxx Crosby, who seems to be improving exponentially year over year. After registering 12.5 sacks last season (eighth in the NFL), he has a whopping 9.5 in nine games played (second in the league). He has been on an absolute tear, and this isn’t just about quarterback play because he is also first in the league with 13 tackles for loss.

Breece Hall had been leading the league in yards per carry for the majority of the season, but over the last three games, he hasn’t had a performance with over 3.5 yards per carry.

Which, in this Chargers game specifically, was especially egregious because he didn’t make up for in the passing game. He only had three yards per touch (despite getting 20 touches), whereas, in the Giants and Eagles games, he was able to use the passing game to bring his averages to 5.2 and 5.5, respectively.

So, long story short: Maxx Crosby is a serious problem. For a team that has had so much reshuffling on the offensive line and a lot of indecision from the QB position, this looks like a potential nightmare waiting to happen.

Is there anything that can be done to avoid complete domination? Or is 'The Crosby Show' an inevitability?

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