In Week 1 of the 2024 season, Tyreek Hill caught a deep ball near the left sideline and outran two Jacksonville Jaguars defenders for an 80-yard touchdown. The Miami Dolphins receiver hasn’t caught a pass for even 30 yards since.
It’s a stunning lack of explosive plays for a deep threat who recorded an NFL-most nine 40-yard plays in 2023.
According to Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, that’s not Hill’s fault. He said in Miami’s 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts there were multiple chances for Hill to make a big play, but “his teammates” let the receiver down.
“He hasn’t caught a 30-yard reception for a multitude of reasons but this last game, there were probably three different opportunities that the opportunity was taken away from him by his teammates’ lack of execution on their non-ball assignments,” McDaniel said Monday. “The opportunities were there. Just no one saw the throw and the catch because it didn’t exist because of a teammate.”
While McDaniel didn’t name any players specifically who were at fault for those missed opportunities, he said Sunday that Tua Tagovailoa deserved some, but not certainly not all, the blame for the Dolphins’ offensive struggles.
“It’s definitely not all on him,” McDaniel said of Tagovailoa. “There’s just throws that I know he makes nine times out of 10, and he didn’t make them today. But that being said, it’s hard to play quarterback when you have surprise pressures, meaning that they’re blitzing but you think it’s accounted for and then somebody doesn’t pick it up. Or you have people coming out the huddle the wrong way, when they had been nailing it for a week-plus really – stuff we’ve been working on.
“There are too many people that failed at the execution of their jobs for him to even have any extra on his shoulders.”
Hill, 31, showed visible frustration on the Dolphins’ sideline during the loss, but remained relatively positive after the blowout loss.
“Offensively, receivers got to get open, and we got to attack the line of scrimmage, separate, attack edges and we got to protect Tua (Tagovailoa). That’s the main thing. I feel like we will get better at that,” Hill said. “Next week, we got to move from it – watch the tape first and get better, and we’ll come back next week hoping to strike up the band more.”
Hill finished with four receptions for 40 yards in the loss.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: 3 big plays for Tyreek Hill ‘taken away from him by his teammates,’ says Mike McDaniel
Reporting by Adam Stites, Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
