England opener Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes regarding the team environment not being "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
But, after Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "weak men" observation after England suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The team subsequently went on a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he revealed his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat entering this Test."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australia spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left England six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
Consequently, Australia need four wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable three-nil lead after three matches played.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes defeat.
The current battle will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a formidable team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
While Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures questions about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second innings on day four, extending his modest returns against Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie in the camp," Crawley finished.
