Despite being bang average throughout the season, Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill hasn’t lost his knack for cockiness. This was evident when he called out the Houston Texans on Instagram ahead of their Week 15 matchup against the Phins, and that too, on the road.
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When you are at 6-7 [Miami], calling out your opponents who are 8-5 [Houston] and have looked very convincing is not a wise decision. Especially when the Texans are fresh off a bye week.
Even more so when you could barely nick past a miserable Jets side in Week 14. But when you are an NFL great like Tyreek Hill, posting “Houston week !!! Bring it” on Instagram is just par for the course.
Popcorn Alert
Tyreek Hill calls out Houston Texans before their match this week.
Good or bad decision???? pic.twitter.com/Zti9ASMQ2l
— Burner Boy (@MiraRoadKCChief) December 9, 2024
Tyreek Hill has always had an X factor about him. He has had that dawg in him, as the younger generation would say, that has always helped him perform when it matters. But are things the same this season? Statistically, the Dolphins WR is having one of the worst seasons in recent memory.
The fact that it took nearly 14 weeks for the Dolphins superstar to reach the 100-receiving-yard mark in a single game shows how poor Hill has been. He is also on track to miss his streak of 1,000 yards for the first time since the 2020 season.
In the WR’s eyes, however, his decline in numbers has been due to a league-wide defensive adjustment. An interesting defensive trend that has popped up this season is the NFL defenses are using more Cover 2 defenses against pacey WRs like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
For those unfamiliar, a Cover 2 Defense is a zonal marking strategy that emphasizes defending an area rather than a player. This ensures additional coverage when deep balls are being played, thus neutralizing the pace of wide receivers. Hill argued that this has resulted in players like him posting fewer numbers than usual.
“Defenses are truly falling in love with playing Cover 2 defense against us. Don’t care about nothing else… they just want to stop 10 and 17.”
🎥 Tyreek Hill on the lack of deep balls this season: “Defenses are truly falling in love with playing Cover 2 defense against us. Don’t care about nothing else… they just want to stop 10 and 17.” (@MiamiDolphins) #GoFins pic.twitter.com/6ugxWa14aq
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) December 7, 2024
Though Tyreek Hill showed glimpses of combating this issue with his trickery against the Jets, the Houston Texans are on a completely different level. Statistically, the Texans rank atop in most defensive metrics so far.
CJ Stroud & Co., on the other hand, are ranked 7th in average passing yards allowed [198.8] with 26 passing TDs conceded. The Texans have an equally adept record against rushing as they have only conceded 7 rushing TDs so far. It is in the red zone where the Houston Texans truly lack, as their defense red zone TD rate hovers at a mediocre 65.6%.
With these defensive stats, it is evident that Tyreek will be the lynchpin to hurt the Texans’ defense. Maybe his war cry was a mind tactic to unsettle the Texans defense. Or maybe, it was Tyreek simply being himself. Regardless, we now have a high-stake of a contest in our hands, come this weekend.
