Raiders report: Hunter Renfrow loses fumble, not teammates’ trust

A dejected Hunter Renfrow was consoled by quarterback Derek Carr in the Raiders’ locker room nearly an hour after his fumble was returned for a touchdown on the final play of a wild 29-23 overtime loss to the Cardinals on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

The words shared between them remain private, but the intention was obvious.

No single play, no matter how decisive, is going to damage the trust Renfrow has earned from his teammates through the work he has done in games and practices.

“You have moments in your career where things happen,” fellow receiver Mack Hollins said. “What I’ve learned is it’s the guys around you that are going to bring you back. It’s hard to pull yourself off the bottom. So we’ll be there for him.”

Renfrow was unavailable for comment because he was being evaluated for a concussion after the game. He appeared to take a shot to the head just before the ball trickled from his grasp and was scooped up and returned 59 yards for a score.

Renfrow lay face down on the ground around the 40-yard line as the Cardinals celebrated the wild victory.

It was just the third lost fumble of his career, though he also had fumbled two plays earlier only to see it recovered by teammate Foster Moreau.

“Hunter’s a hell of a player,” Hollins said. “You all know firsthand how good he is. So be it. He fumbled. To say that’s the reason we lost is ridiculous. It was a 60-minute-plus game. To say one play is the reason? No.”

Renfrow had a team-high seven catches for 59 yards. He has recorded at least three catches in 21 straight games, the fifth-longest active streak in the NFL.

Rough start

The Raiders’ 0-2 start doesn’t bode well for their hopes of making the playoffs.

No team has made the postseason after losing its first two games since the Texans and Seahawks in 2018.

Since 1990, 265 teams started the season 0-2. Only 30 of them made the playoffs.

This is the 16th time in franchise history the Raiders have started a season with two consecutive losses. They failed to make the postseason on any of the 15 previous occasions.

Bittersweet

Second-year cornerback Amik Robertson recorded the first interception of his career when he intercepted Kyler Murray late in the second quarter.

“It felt great at the time, but I’m the kind of guy who is very competitive, so the most important thing to me is a win,” he said. “That’s all I wanted.”

The turnover came three plays after Nate Hobbs had intercepted Murray only to have it nullified by a defensive holding penalty on Hobbs.

Held in check

A week after catching 10 passes on 17 targets in a tremendous debut for the Raiders, star receiver Davante Adams caught just two passes.

He was targeted seven times and scored on a 1-yard reception on the game’s opening drive, but the connection just wasn’t there with Carr.

Coach Josh McDaniels credited the Arizona defense for some of that.

“They chose to take Davante away a little bit more … than the Chargers did,” he said. “That forced the ball to some other people. You saw Mack (Hollins) had some success, Hunter and Darren. The defense gets a vote with whatever they choose to do. We’ve got to be able to produce against it.”

This marked the first time Adams had fewer than three catches in any game since 2017 when Brett Hundley was filling in for an injured Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

Stats

Daniel Carlson made all three of his field-goal attempts, including a 55-yarder, to extend his NFL-best streak of consecutive makes to 28.

His last miss was in a road loss to the Giants in Week 8 last season.

Defensive end Maxx Crosby recorded his first sack of the season and the 26th of his career, which tied Chester McGlockton for the sixth-most sacks in franchise history through 51 games.

Crosby also has 45 tackles for loss in his career, third most behind the Steelers’ T.J. Watt (61) and the Rams’ Aaron Donald (54) since the start of 2019.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.