Art Brooks

Special to The Detroit News

About 2:40 or so local time Monday, former Eastern Michigan defensive end Maxx Crosby, about to play his first game for Oakland, tweeted the following:

“LETS GOOOO.”

Missing apostrophe aside – and hours later – the Raiders got going, all right. They beat visiting Denver, 24-16, to complete the NFL's first regular-season weekend.

And Crosby, a fourth-round pick, contributed, making three solo tackles and assisting on three.

His Twitter site was filled with congratulatory messages.

Crosby tweeted: “RAIDER NATION BABY !! !! !! Just The Start.”

He had suffered a broken left hand Aug. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams in a preseason game. Crosby was hurt reaching out to strip the ball from a runner and had surgery.

Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune wrote Monday of Crosby in an e-mail to The News: "Talked to him during the week. ... Small wrap on hand. A wound from where plate was put in."

Crosby (6-foot-5, 266) is listed as a third-stringer behind Arden Key and Benson Mayowa.

Key (6-5, 240) is a second-year man from LSU. Mayowa (6-3, 265) is in his seventh season out of Idaho.

In three years and 37 games at EMU, Crosby had 20 sacks.

The Raiders' next game is at home Sunday against Kansas City and elusive quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

With five seconds before halftime, ESPN panned a row of fans, one of whom was wearing a jersey adorned with 98, Crosby's number.

He didn't get to Joe Flacco on Monday, but who knows?

A sack or two of Mahomes might be just enough to increase the market for some more of those number 98s.

Art Brooks is a retired Detroit News sports copy editor and longtime volunteer adviser to EMU's student newspaper, the Echo.