The Las Vegas Raiders had their biggest test since Antonio Pierce took over as interim head coach on Sunday as they took on the Miami Dolphins. Unfortunately, they were unable to take down the Dolphins, but it was a competitive contest in which the Raiders had a chance to win late. It was also noteworthy that receiver Hunter Renfrow had his best game of the season so far.
Renfrow caught all five of his targets for 42 yards, all of which were season-highs for the slot receiver. Of course the hope was that this effort came in a win, but the Raiders came up just short. Renfrow however, believes this loss could do some good for the team as a whole.
After the contest, Renfrow spoke about how close losses like this can either bring a team closer or divide them more. In this case, the Raiders receiver believes this team will grow closer despite coming up short in Miami, via Justin Churchill of A to Z Sports:
“I think something like this can bring people together or divide,” Hunter Renfrow told reporters in the locker room after the close loss to Miami. “In the past, I think maybe it could have divided a little bit. But I think that this is going to bring us closer. We care about each other in this locker room.”
With the Raiders’ two recent wins coming over a pair of bad teams, many didn’t take them seriously. But playing the Dolphins down to the wire shows that this squad is playing at a much higher level than they were a month ago.
As Renfrow noted, this team cares about each other and is going to continue to push each other to get better. Pierce deserves at least some of the credit for harboring that type of atmosphere within the Raiders locker room and getting the team to really enjoy football again.
It was certainly good to see Renfrow back involved in the offense as he was a Pro Bowler just two seasons ago. Overall the passing attack was the most balanced it has been all year long. Of course, Davante Adams is at the forefront, but behind him, Renfrow, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and tight end Michael Mayer all had at least five targets as well and rookie Aidan O’Connell did a good job spreading the ball around.
Of course, there are still plenty of things that need to be cleaned up, but Renfrow’s words surely echo the thoughts of the entire locker room, and this team is in a great place moving forward.
