Miami Dolphins’ third-year offensive tackle Patrick Paul has faced the Las Vegas Raiders only once in his two NFL seasons. Having won that game and watching the Raiders’ veteran defensive end Maxx Crosby dominate offenses from afar, he believes he may have figured out how to get the best of the 5x Pro Bowler. While talking to Miami media on Tuesday, September 8th, Paul admitted that trash talk is key to getting Crosby “off his game.”

“Yeah, he’s a hothead,” Paul said. “ So, a lot of those things, you can get into his game with that. But I mean, he’s a great player, so you’ve just got to stay on it all four quarters with him.”

In a locker room interview back in Vegas the next day, Crosby was asked repeatedly whether those kinds of comments get under his skin, rattle him, or help to motivate him in any way. Crosby dodged the questions the first few times, but by the last one, he’d had enough.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about or who is talking about what,” Crosby said, ending the interview. “It is what it is. We’ll see Sunday.”

Earlier in the interview, Crosby was also asked how he has learned from adversities from year 1 to year 8. His answer already showed his mentality, how he approaches the game, and why just trash talk might not be enough to slow him down.

“For me, on a personal level, I just wanna continue evolving as a pass rusher, as a run stopper, as a game wrecker,” Crosby said. “That’s what I pride myself on, being a guy you can’t really put a definition on. Just somebody that can go out there and wreck a game in many different ways. A lot of people talk about one-on-one matchups, and they try to – like the media and the fans, they try to dive into the one-on-ones and things like that, but when you can wreck the whole game, that puts you in a different category.

“That’s what I pride myself on: being one of those guys, and somebody that, no matter what, you can slow him down in this area, but he’s gonna dominate in this area. You gotta attend to him at the same class, so that’s what I focus on every day – just being elite across the board and everything you do just dominate my matchups.”

Now, if we talk about the last time Maxx faced the Dolphins (Week 11 of the 2024 season), he could only manage 5 tackles across 68 defensive and 6 special teams snaps. But you can’t judge him by that 34-19 loss.

Across seven seasons so far, Crosby’s logged 439 tackles, 133 tackles for loss, 164 QB Hits, 69.5 sacks, and even one interception. His 5 straight Pro Bowl nods further justify his status as an elite game-wrecker. But even beyond these stat lines, Crosby doesn’t really need media narratives or player digs to feel motivated going into his eighth NFL season.

Since a knee injury landed him on the IR after Week 16 last season, Crosby’s been grinding non-stop to get back to the game. To add insult to injury, his trade to the Baltimore Ravens this offseason did a 180 just three days in because he failed his physical. Back in training camp, he’s already gotten into an altercation with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins for being physical when specifically told not to.

That “chip on his shoulder,” as UFC president and CEO Dana White calls it, will explode on the field when the Raiders host the Dolphins on September 13th. Patrick Paul may have thought he was painting a target on Maxx Crosby’s back with his comments. But now, Paul could have a hard time protecting quarterback Malik Willis as one of the league’s most dominant pass rushers aims to tackle him to the ground.