Tyreek’s Opinion: No More Pretexts
In Hill’s two seasons in Miami, the team lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 26-7 at chilly Arrowhead Stadium, their second straight first-round playoff exit. The All-Pro wide receiver believes his team must advance in 2024.
Hill declared, “Well, there are no more excuses.” “I feel like there are no more justifications left. We didn’t have a quarterback when we made the playoffs our first year together. We had our quarterback, it was incredibly chilly, and we made it to the playoffs this year. And it seems like we are virtually out of excuses at this point. Everyone has essentially experienced participating in the playoffs. It’s all our responsibility now.
2023: DOLPHINS WILL HAVE MORE OF THE SAME
The Dolphins’ 2023 campaign was a lot like its 2022 campaign in that the team started the season well for AFC playoff seeding going into December, faltered late in the game, and had to travel for its first-round playoff encounter.
Naturally, the only distinction is that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of the Dolphins was well enough to start this year’s playoff game at Kansas City, unlike the previous year when he was forced to miss the game at Buffalo due to concussions.
Though it performed well enough to give the Dolphins a chance to win the playoff game or the regular season finale against the Bills at Hard Rock Stadium, where a win would have given the Dolphins the AFC East title and a home playoff game, the Dolphins did experience some injury issues again in the latter part of 2023, especially on defense.
Despite playing the final four games and even pulling off a backflip following his score in that Week 18 game against Buffalo, Hill was one of those who struggled with injuries in the latter stages of the season.
“Moving forward, we’ve got to continue on that strong trend that we began the season with,” Hill told the NFL Network. Additionally, I believe that our defense provided us with enough opportunity to win our most recent playoff game. They made enough stops so that we could win the match. We just need to get it rolling offensively. To keep our defense off the field, we must be able to string together drives. All we need is a little experienced leadership during the week, basic preparation, and the ability to play quickly even in below-freezing temperatures. And simply follow our coaches’ instructions. I believe Coach (Mike) McDaniel, particularly Coach Wes Welker, who coaches my wide outs, those guys, they did a fantastic job setting us up for situations similar to the one we encountered against Kansas City during the entire season.
“Okay, guy, no more excuses for next year. Man, I think it’s all up to us. You can therefore anticipate much more from us, Fin Nation.”