Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill has come a long way since entering the National Football League in 2016. Four years into his pro career, Hill has shown that he’s way more than just a ‘return specialist’ by leading the league in receiving yards following a huge performance during a 27-24 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon.
Hill, 26, caught 13 balls for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns yesterday against the Bucs and currently leads the NFL in receiving yards. So far in 2020, Hill has made 68 receptions for 1,021 yards and a career-high 13 touchdowns.
Head Coach Andy Reid expressed how pleased he was with Hill’s performance against Tampa Bay and his development over the past few seasons.
“I see how hard he works, so I’m very excited for him,” Reid said in his post-game presser. “[He’s] learning the position, that goes from how do you handle your body for a long season… and how do you earn your quarterback’s trust — early in the week — to let him know you’re going to be there for him. There’s a certain mentality that goes with that and it takes a certain amount of toughness to do that. I think really that’s where he’s gotten better — not that he’s always been tough, I’m not saying that — but it’s a long season and this kid runs miles. He’s like a midfielder in soccer. He’s running all over the place, and we have him in a lot of different spots. That can wear on you, and he’s just stayed strong in the area. When he goes out to practice, he goes with a purpose, and good things are happening for him.”
For one reason or another, the Buccaneers felt confident enough to leave Hill in single coverage, and it proved disastrous for Tampa Bay, as the speedster gained 203 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter. Reid pointed out that anytime Hill is one-on-one in single coverage, that it’s a huge advantage for Kansas City.
“We feel like he’s a pretty good matchup anywhere with anybody,” Reid assured. “He’s strong, he’s quick, he’s fast, and he can catch. The quarterback trusts him. They were banged up at the cornerback position… but I would put him against anyone. He’s been doing this all year.”
Hill talked about the observations Reid had made regarding his work ethic and went into further detail about how he approaches every week during the season.
“Each and every week I try to set the mindset of working hard for this team, and giving it my all because that’s just the way my mom raised me,” Hill said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m hurt, if I’m gimpy or limpy, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to go out and try to get the trust of the quarterback. There may be a few plays I feel sorry for myself, but best believe I’m going to come right back the next play and give [Chiefs quarterback] Patrick [Mahomes] 110% — and he knows that. I’m going to continue to do that.”
The Buccaneers failed to have an effective game plan for Hill from the get-go and Patrick Mahomes was the first to take notice of the soft coverage around one of his most dangerous receivers – especially during the first quarter.
“It was man coverage with no one over the top,” Mahomes explained after the game. “We don’t get that a lot, especially with [Hill] and his ability, but whenever we do, we try to take advantage of it.”
When asked how Hill was able to have as big of a game as he did despite all the weapons the Chiefs have on offense, Mahomes suggested it was just Tyreek’s week.
“At the beginning of the game, instead of that safety going over the top of Tyreek, he was going over the top of Travis [Kelce],” Mahomes recalled. “That’s just a problem that defenses have when they go against us: we have so many good weapons, it’s hard to try to take away one guy when we can just go to the other guy. This week was Tyreek’s week, but I’m sure other guys will make big plays the rest of the season.”
Hill had one of the best games of his career and one of the best single-quarter performances a pro receiver could possibly have. While he didn’t finish the game as great as he started it, Hill still made an important catch to convert on third down-and-eight and help close the game out, sealing the victory.
Hill made sure that teammate Sammy Watkins was the one that got the credit for his clutch reception at the end of the game.
“That’s something that Eric Bieniemy preaches each and every week,” Hill shared. “We work situational football on Fridays. We were able to sneak that play in. It’s like a mini-comeback from the inside, with Sammy rubbing my guy because it was man-to-man, and I was able to win. I may get all the glory, I may get all the shine, but Sammy really made that play happen, he made my guy loop over the top, I was just able to come back for the comeback, Pat threw an amazing throw, I caught it, got the first, game over.”
Tyreek Hill has come a long way since entering the league and was the sole reason the Chiefs were able to defeat the Buccaneers on Sunday. Hill has always been regarded as one of the league’s most dynamic playmakers but can officially be noted as one of the NFL’s elite as its current leading receiver.
