Derek Carr, Hunter Renfrow heroics set up game-winner vs Colts, gives Raiders ‘chance at the dance’

Derek Carr ‘created’ and Hunter Renfrow ‘stayed with me’ twice to give Raiders ‘chance at the dance’

With less than two minutes left in the game between the Colts and Raiders, the Colts connected on a field goal to tie it up at 20-20. That meant the Raiders would need to drive for a score to try and win it and keep the game from heading to overtime.

A 14-yard connection with Zay Jones put the Raiders in Indianapolis territory at the 48. Two incompletions later and the Raiders were in third and ten. Derek Carr dropped back to pass, saw pressure, stepped up to try and keep the play alive, and threw a pass on the run just over the defender to a diving Hunter Renfrow.

It was an astounding play that first was ruled a touchdown after Renfrow got up and ran for the end zone. But he was touched down at the 24-yard-line instead. Either way, it put the Raiders in scoring range to win it.

 

“Derek did a good job of extending the play,” said Renfrow. “I know a lot of people have been on him about that. So, it’s all about the first step. If you can see it right before the DB does and Derek can find you, then you have a good formula for success there. Derek did that, the O-line did a good job of extending the play and letting us extend it, and Derek found me. It was a good job by him.”

Carr noted after the game that Renfrow “stayed with me again. Kept running, made a heck of a catch.”

Carr said “again” because the two of them hooked up on a play earlier in which Carr extended the play and Renfrow made himself available. The previous play came early in the fourth quarter to put the Raiders ahead 20-17.

The Raiders were a the 11-yard-line, which means they could’ve settled for a field goal, but that would have had them down one point still. And in fourth and two, Bisaccia made the aggressive call. Then Carr and Renfrow made it happen.

“We came into the game with a little bit of the mentality that if we got in fourth and two, fourth and one situations, we thought we had a good enough package we could do some of those things,” said Bisaccia.

“And I thought we saw Derek create today. I thought had two or three plays where he created and made big plays. With his ability to step up like that and move himself around a little bit and put himself in position to create — whether it’s third-down or fourth down or whatever — he did a good job with it.”

The unfortunate thing is the reason they needed these two big plays late was because of mistakes earlier, including two Derek Carr interceptions. That made what began as a 10-0 lead and remained a 13-3 game with seconds left in the second quarter would turn into a 17-13 Colts lead in the third quarter.

To the Raiders’ credit, they came on at the right time. And it was crucial to their playoff lives that they do so. A loss would have put them in a position in which they would need a lot of help from other teams in order to remain in the playoff race. A win meant they still control their own destinies.

“All it means that that we got to win next week,” Renfrow added, putting it in perspective. “We put ourselves in a good chance to win next week and we’re in the playoffs. That’s what we’ve all talked about since the beginning. Just give us a chance at the dance.”

The Raiders escaped Indianapolis with the 23-20 win to improve to a 9-7 record and clinch their first winning season since 2016. Whether that means a playoff berth will depend on what happened next week when they face the Chargers in the season finale. Win and they’re in. Lose, and the hopes are slim.

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