Stephen A. Smith calls out Tyreek Hill and “boy genius” Mike McDaniel as Dolphins “wet the bed”
Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill spent most of 2023 getting praise from all corners of the NFL zeitgeist. From fans to players and pundits, seemingly no one has found anything negative to say about the former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver.
However, the tone has shifted from Stephen A. Smith as he called out Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and Hill in a tirade on Wednesday's edition of "First Take."
"I've lost all faith and all respect for the Miami Dolphins," Smith said. "I'm so disgusted with the Miami Dolphins. They make me sick. They really, really do. To watch them go on the road and wet the bed as many times as they have this year. ... I see a** kickings on their dockets. And that is what disgusts me."
The ESPN analyst continued, calling out Hill's touchdown pass drops as an issue:
"To have us rave about Mike McDaniels, the way that we have people talking about the boy genius that he is supposed to be, to look at the greatness of Tyreek Hill, who spent the vast majority of this season literally as an MVP candidate.
"But we can point to last week against Baltimore [and] the Philadelphia game... where he literally drops touchdown passes."
Tyreek Hill hits December downturn
The Dolphins wide receiver has had better months. December started as well as any other month, with 157 yards and two touchdowns against the Washington Commanders. However, since that contest taking place on Dec. 11, he has not crossed the 100-yard mark in a game.
Not only has his yardage totals dropped, but his touchdown totals have also hit a wall. Before Dec. 4, he had only gone two games without a touchdown. In his last three games, dating back to Dec. 11, Hill has failed to reach the endzone a single time.
While he has remained productive on the scale of a quality receiver, it has been a shadow of his production rate this season. Of course, the wide receiver's ankle injury has greatly explained the dropoff. Patrick Mahomes' former receiver has been dealing with the injury for most of the season, and in the last several weeks, the injury has come to a head.
Hill missed the team's Week 15 showdown against the New York Jets due to the injury and didn't appear healthy going into the playoffs. For a team that missed Tua Tagovailoa for last year's playoff run, being without a 100% Tyreek Hill could damage Miami's Super Bowl chances.
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