As quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target, Tyreek Hill has seen him throw plenty of passes this season, but the All-Pro receiver has never seen Mahomes throw the football likes he’s been doing in practice lately.
“What’s crazy is, Pat, he’s been on a roll,” Hill said Thursday. “I haven’t seen Pat throw dots like this at practice. Like he’s been throwing crazy dots. Like, he throws dots. But the dots he’s been throwing in practice lately have been crazy…. So I’m pretty fired up. Just gotta wait and see. I’ve gotta rub my hands together — I’m excited about that.”
The Chiefs hope Mahomes and Hill connect the dots, a slang term given for pinpoint passes thrown into a tight space in between defenders, plenty of times on Sunday when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV in Tampa.
Hill has 104 catches for 1,558 yards and 15 touchdowns on 156 targets from Hill in 18 games, including the playoffs, this season.
The duo had their best performance — and one of the single-quarter outbursts by a quarterback-receiver duo in NFL history — against host Tampa Bay during a 27-24 win in Week 12.
Hill torched Tampa Bay for 13 catches for 269 yards – both career highs — and three touchdowns on 15 targets. Hill was unstoppable in the first 15 minutes.
He made seven catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter alone, joining Qadry Ismail (210 in the third quarter on Dec. 12, 1999) and Lee Evans (205 in the first quarter on Nov. 19, 2006) as the only NFL receivers since 1980 to have 200 yards worth of receiving yards in a quarter.
“He wants to take every single rep,” Mahomes said of Hill. “You hear about that with all the great receivers, but to see it firsthand. I mean, it’s truly a special thing.”
Mahomes, who was the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2019, has been just as good in the postseason. In two playoff games this year, he’s thrown for 580 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions.
In seven postseason games, he’s thrown 15 career touchdown passes, which tie Kurt Warner for the second-most by a quarterback in his first four seasons in NFL history, one behind leader Russell Wilson.
Mahomes, who is the reigning Super Bowl MVP, is the first quarterback ever to start three consecutive conference championship games in his first four NFL seasons and with a win on Sunday, will become the first quarterback to win two Super Bowls before turning 26.
Meantime, Hill will take the field at Raymond James Stadium seeking to become just the ninth receiver in league history to be named to The Associated Press’ All-Pro First Team and win the Super Bowl in the same season.
It’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Indianapolis’ Marvin Harrison in 2006. Of the eight players who have done it, five — Jerry Rice (1988, 1989, 1994), John Stallworth (1979), Lynn Swann (1978), Paul Warfield (1973) and Harrison — are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while Pearson (1977) could get the call from Canton on Saturday and Gary Clark (1987) and Cliff Branch (1976) had excellent careers.
“He has worked so hard this year and I think we’ve all seen that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “His dependability and reliability … working hard every day, timing with the quarterback every day … that takes a certain amount of toughness and determination to get yourself to that point.”
–Field Level Media
