Tyreek knows he'll always have a Hill to climb

Miami's deep threat was handcuffed in an all too familiar pre-game incident, then helped beat Jacksonville once he was freed.

Tyreek Hill, the Red Bull RB13 of wide receivers, took Tua Tagovailoa’s pass 80 yards to the end zone, Then he stopped, and teammate Jaylen Waddle came up behind him, grabbed his wrists, and pretended to handcuff him.

Much of the Miami crowd wasn’t aware of the message. Hill had been pulled over by Miami-Dade police on the way to the stadium, allegedly for reckless driving. When the conversation got heated, Hill was handcuffed and made to lie on the pavement. It took four officers to do this, which might be a good thing for NFL defensive coordinators to study. And when teammate Calais Campbell stopped to check out the problem, he got handcuffed, too.

Someone in the police department realized the absurdity and announced that one of the cops would be driving a desk while this gets resolved. Drew Rosenhaus, Hill’s agent, said Hill is thinking about a lawsuit.

This, of course, will trigger a thunderous debate in the Free State Of Florida. Those who consider the NFL a hotbed of Trotskyite ideas will say Hill had it coming, and that race has nothing to do with it. And it is true that golfer Scottie Scheffler, white, was also arrested by an overcaffeinated cop at the PGA Championship in May.

They will no doubt be fueled by Hill’s end zone routine with Waddle. Hill freely spoke about the incident after the game and, although he was troubled, did not seem outraged. Instead, he seems to look at it the way most Black men do, with resignation chipping away at his rage. It’s a fact of life, the way J.D. Vance says school shootings are a fact of life. It will happen to Black men long after Hill is competing in senior 100 meter sprints.

He did say what most of his peers are thinking. “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?” he asked. Nobody else is, of course, and yet Black men in and out of sports will tell you such traffic-stop fiascos happen every day in 50 states. It’s why “the talk,” in Black families, isn’t about the birds and the bees. It’s about the knee to the neck.

“I was making sure I was doing what my uncle told me to do in that situation,” Hill said. “Put my hands on the steering wheel and just listen.”

Apparently that wasn’t enough.

The game? Well, the Dolphins were down 17-7 at the half. “We had to get our head out of our ass,” said Tagovailoa, who expressed himself even more colorfully in the halftime locker room. Hitting Hill was a good first step, but Miami still needed Jason Sanders’ 52-yard field goal with 2:09 left to beat Jacksonville, 20-17, after Sanders had already missed a 42-yarder.

Miami’s defense pitched a shutout in the second half, although the offense kept Trevor Lawrence off the field by running 65 plays to Jacksonville’s 50. Both Hill and Waddle exceeded 100 yards, and Hill was targeted 12 times. Well, thirteen times for the day.

Other confetti from Week 2:

Philadelphia 31, Green Bay 26

– The Eagles probably won this game in the first quarter when Green Bay penalties in the red zone forced field goals instead of touchdowns. Down 6-0 instead of 14-0, the Eagles cranked up an offense that was forced to punt only twice, and got 12 catches for 203 yards from Devonta Smith and A.J. Brown.

– Linebacker Zack Baun gave Philadelphia all the defense it needed with 11 primary tackles, four assists, two sacks and a tackle for loss. Quinyon Mitchell, the first cornerback taken in the ‘24 draft, looked very much at home and defensed two passes.

– The newly-paid Jordan Love struggled at times but kept the Packers in it. A knee injury on the final play of the game made for a stressful weekend in Green Bay. It’s being termed a MCL sprain that might not keep Love out all year. Second-year man Jayden Reed had a 3-yard run and a 70-yard catch, both for touchdowns.

Chicago 24, Tennessee 17

– The Bears couldn’t lose for winning. They fell behind 17-0, never scored a touchdown, got a discouraging performance from first-overall pick Caleb Williams, and still got the win, with a 14-point fourth quarter.

– Williams had no explosive plays and was 14 for 29 for 93 yards. But Will Levis, on the other side, made the key mistake. Pursued by the pass rush, he tried to get rid of the ball and threw it to the Bears’ Tyrique Stevenson, who returned it 43 yards with 4:25 left. A two-pointer from Williams to DeAndre Swift created the 8-point lead.

– The Bears cut it to 17-10 on Jonathan Owens’ 21-yard return of a blocked punt. Owens is the husband of Simone Biles, who’s familiar with somersaults, like this gam ewas. Chicago fans, as usual, can turn to their defense for encouragement, with eight tackles for loss and three takeaways.

Detroit 26, L.A. Rams 20, (OT)

– This one was just as tight and tense as the Lions’ playoff win over the Rams last season, and probably as painful for Sean McKay’s team, which watched Detroit take the overtime kickoff and score in eight plays, seven of them runs. This came after the Rams’ defense rose up in the second half and held Detroit to six first downs and one touchdown, allowing L.A. to wipe out a 14-point deficit.

– Jameson Williams, who tore his ACL in the 2022 national championship game for Alabama, is fine now. He caught a touchdown pass and four others for 121 yards. But the Rams held Amon-Ra St. Brown to 13 yards on three catches.

– Puka Nacua went out with a leg injury, so Matthew Stafford threw 21 passes in Cooper Kupp’s direction, completing 14 for 110 yards. The Rams had first-and-goal on the Detroit one early in the fourth quarter, trailing 17-10, but Kyren Williams was stopped cold, and a holding penalty by substitute tackle A.J. Arcuri wiped out Jordan Whittington’s touchdown. Another call on Arcuri forced a field goal attempt by Josh Karty, who cut it to 17-13.

LA Chargers 22, Las Vegas 10

– Jim Harbaugh’s debut went nearly 47 minutes without a touchdown, until JK Dobbins scored from 12 yards for a 16-7 lead. The Chargers had two first downs and no third-down conversions in the first half, but Dobbins wound up with 135 ground yards.

– With 7:09 left and with a 16-10 deficit, Raiders’ coach Antonio Pierce chose to punt on fourth-and-one at the L.A. 43. He had little reason to believe that the Chargers would go 92 yards for a touchdown, but they did, with Dobbins getting them into position with a 61-yard run.

– Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey were playing for Georgia last year. They both led their teams in targets on Sunday (Bowers eight for Vegas, McConkey seven for L.A.). The Raiders, with Gardner Minshew at the helm, had only one red zone possession and didn’t punch it in.

Seattle 26, Denver 20

– Four consecutive runs by Kenneth Walker finished a 61-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that gave Seattle the lead for good. Walker scored from 23 yards and wound up with 103 yards in 20 carries. It might be a signal from new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubbs. Geno Smith only threw 25 times.

– Safety Julian Love came over from the Giants last year and played well enough to earn a 3-year contract from Seattle. He was outstanding Sunday, with 10 initial tackles, a tackle for loss, an interception, a forced fumble and a pass defensed.

– Rookie Bo Nix had a hard time with a Seahawks defense supervised by new head coach Mike MacDonald. He needed 42 attempts to get 139 yards, and he also was the leading rusher with 35 yards, which wasn’t in Sean Payton’s game plan.

Houston 29, Indianapolis 27

— Having seen the wonders Anthony Richardson can perform with a football, the Texans tried to made sure he didn’t have it. They were on offense for exactly two-thirds of this game, and put together TD drives of 10 and 11 plays in the second half, giving the Colts only 3:57 of possession in the fourth quarter. 

– Ahead 22-20, the Texans went for it on fourth-and-goal from the two, and C.J. Stroud hit Stefon Diggs for a touchdown. But after Richardson got the Colts back within two points, the Texans had to burn the final 2:14 even though Indy had all its time outs and the two-minute record. Stroud hit Nico Collins for 12 yards on third and 11, and the game ended with Houston in control. Three 50-plus field goals by Ka’imi Fairbairn helped.

– Richardson threw a gasp-worthy 60 yard TD to Alec Pierce and a 54-yarder to Ashton Dulin. Stroud was 24 for 32 for two scores and survived four sacks, but Houston won by saddling up Joe Mixon, late of Cincinnati, for 159 rush yards on 30 carries.

Pittsburgh 18, Atlanta 10

– T.J. Watt’s best play was whistled away because he was a tick offside. He sacked Kirk Cousins, knocked the ball loose and then had it before it hit the ground. He made up for it with maybe a half-dozen others just as good, with a sack, a fumble recovery, two tackles for loss and three hits. The Steelers’ defense had three takeaways.

– Although Cousins was the major off-season import, nothing looked very different for Atlanta. Drake London and Kyle Pitts only had three targets, even though Pitts had the only touchdown, and Cousins had a QB rating of 59.0. The Falcons had only 50 snaps and converted 2 of 9 third downs.

– With Baltimore’s Justin Tucker struggling a bit, is Chris Boswell the best long kicker in the league? He was 6-for-6 Sunday and was perfect from 51, 56 and 57 yards. Justin Fields started in place of Russell Wilson and was productive between the 20s, hitting 17 of 23, but the Steelers couldn’t find the end zone.

Dallas 33, Cleveland 17

– The USFL is an afterthought when anyone thinks about it at all, but it was designed for people like KaVontae Turpin, the Dallas returner whose 60-yard punt return put Dallas ahead 27-3 on the first series of the second half. Turpin weighs in at 153 pounds, but he was the USFL’s MVP in 2022 and piqued the Cowboys’ interest.

– Dak Prescott’s financial future is one of the leading cable obsessions of our time. The Cowboys settled it Sunday by giving him a four-year, $240 million extension, which was a record as was his $231 million guaranteed money. Prescott did not celebrate with dazzling statistics, but went 19-for-32 with no interceptions.

– Mike Zimmer returned as the Dallas defensive coordinator and his troops responded with six sacks. The Browns did not have a 30-yard play, and DeShaun Watson went 24 for 45 with a dismal QB rating of 51.1.

New England 16, Cincinnati 10

– On to Cincinnati, indeed. For the first time this century, the Patriots played for a coach other than Bill Belichick, and they rewarded ex-Pats linebacker Jerod Mayo with a ball-controlling victory, running the ball 39 times to Cincinnati’s 16.

– The decision to start Jacoby Brissett over rookie Drake Maye looked good when the veteran backup completed 15 of 24 passes without a turnover. His best move was to hand off to Rhamondre Stevenson, who ran for 120 yards.

– Joe Burrow was sacked three times and the Bengals suffered three turnovers, including a fumble by tight end Tanner Hudson on the goal line. Defensive end Keion White had two-and-a-half sacks for the Patriots.

New Orleans 47, Carolina 10

– By the time Bryce Young completed his first pass Sunday, his Panthers were down 17-0. The first play of the season for Carolina, and for coach Dave Canales, was Young’s interception by Will Harris, after the Saints had scored on their first possession.

– New Orleans’ offense scored on its first nine possessions, and Derek Carr was 19-for-23 and led the Saints to touchdowns on all four red zone trips. Defensive back Alontae Taylor had three sacks.

– Young’s quarterback rating was 31.8, and the Panthers failed to convert nine of their 10 third downs. No highlights were to be found, except for three tackles for loss by Eku Leota, an undrafted linebacker from Auburn.

Minnesota 28, N.Y. Giants 6

– A 99-yard touchdown drive usually is an indication of superiority. The Vikings were leading 7-3 in New York when the Giants downed a punt on the one-yard-line. It took 11 plays for Minnesota to traverse the field, and it did so without needing to convert a third down until it got within the Giants 10-yard-line. Sam Darold was 7-for-7 on the drive including a 44-yard shot to Justin Jefferson, who later caught the three-yard TD pass.

– Meadowlands fans booed the Giants’ wretched effort, which did not produce a touchdown, allowed five sacks and did not keep the Vikings out of the end zone in four red zone trips. Daniel Jones capped it with an awful pick-six throw to Andrew Van Ginkel, who turned it into a 10-yard score.

– Darnold is getting another chance to stabilize his career because rookie JJ McCarthy is hurt. He is with his best group of playmakers, and completed 19 of 24 passes. Aaron Jones, the ex-Packer, helped with 94 rush yards and a touchdown.

Buffalo 34, Arizona 28

– Arizona’s Deejay Dallas officially reintroduced the kickoff return to the NFL Sunday with a 96-yarder in the fourth quarter, and it brought the Cardinals to within 31-28. But Kyler Murray’s final drive stalled at the Buffalo 29, giving the Bills a win that didn’t look likely when they trailed, 17-3.

– Josh Allen was a daredevil again, running to convert a fourth down and then vaulting the Cardinals’ Budda Baker for a 6-yard touchdown and an 11-point lead. The defensive star was Gregg Rousseau, who squeezed Murray for a sack fumble that set up the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

– Marvin Harrison, the well-advertised top draft choice for Arizona, caught one of three passes for four yards. The best rookie wide-out on the field was Buffalo’s Keon Coleman, who snagged four for 51 yards.

Tampa Bay 37, Washington 20

– Jayden Daniels had a decent debut as Washington’s quarterback, running for 88 yards and compiling a 93.1 QB rating. The Heisman Trophy winner went 17 for 24 with no picks. However, the Commanders came up empty on six of eight third downs and couldn’t keep up with the Bucs’ thriving offense.

– Baker Mayfield posted a 24 for 30 performance and four touchdowns, including two to the 31-year-old Mike Evans. He got a boost from Oregon rookie Bucky Irving, who ran for 62 yards on nine carries.

– Bobby Wagner, now 34, was in on ten Washington tackles, but the rest of the defense showed little improvement, giving up 9 of 13 third down pickups.