A receiver has never won NFL MVP, but Tyreek Hill builds case in Dolphins’ win in Washington | Opinion

No hyperbole is needed to describe the season Tyreek Hill is having for the Miami Dolphins because the mere facts read like exaggeration. So it was just an spectacular day at work for the Cheetah on Sunday in the chill of Washington. These are days we have come to expect but ought not ever take for granted.

Because this is a season for the ages Hill is having. In Dolphins history and in the annals of the NFL

Tua Tagovailoa connected with his favorite target on scoring passes of 78 and 60 yards for the sizzle in a 45-15 Miami victory that put the Dolphins at 9-3 and intent on an AFC East title. Hill’s speed left vapor trails that delighted a road crowd that seemed full of aqua jerseys making the visitors feel at home.

“One of the other cooler things was, it was just a lot of Dolphins fans, and I can’t remember an away game where we’ve had that much support,” Tagovailoa said afterward. “None of that goes unnoticed, and we really appreciate that as players.”

Miami has not been 9-3 at this point in a season since 2001. (For trivia hounds, this was the first 45-15 final score in NFL history, the 1,082nd different final score.)

Hill’s 157 receiving yards on five catches gave him a league-leading 1,481 for the season and accelerated his drive to become the first receiver to reach 2,000 for a season. His current pace extrapolates to 2,098.

His eighth 100-yard game tied the club record Mark Duper set in 1986.

With Hill it’s more than the numbers, though, more than stats.

It’s the palpable joy he brings to the field, and the sport.

His facemask cannot hide it.

We saw it again after his first long TD catch when he introduced an end-zone celebration called the roller coaster, in which a handful of teammates sit behind Hill and mimic riding on a coaster.

Hill has made sure this season has been a wild ride for the Dolphins, although the trajectory has mostly been up, the sharp dips held to a minimum.

Surely the roller coaster celebration will be among the stars of the next episode of the in-season “Hard Knocks” series starring the Dolphins. (I would pay to see the behind the scenes planning session for the bit.)

It’s a given Hill is on pace to make the Pro Bowl. Tagovailoa and running back Raheem Mostert should, too.

But Hill’s year merits higher, more historic consideration.

At this rate, he should be the NFL’s Offensive Player Of the Year.

Let’s go higher still.

To the league Most Valuable Player award.

The Associated Press names the official NFL MVP. They have done it the past 66 years. Quarterbacks have won 47 times and every year since 2013. Running backs have won it 16 times, a defensive player twice and even a placekicker once.

A wide receiver has never won MVP. Not even Jerry Rice.

It might be time And Hill is making his case, one week at a time.

“I feel like I’m doing a great job of being in the right spot for the quarterback and making sure I’m doing a great job blocking and just understanding this whole offense,” Hill said afterward. “This past offseason, I really had a chance to just look back and just understand my mistakes from last year.”

Said coach Mike McDaniel: “The connection between Tua and Tyreek in terms of two players playing together is as good as I’ve ever been around.”

Sunday Hill energized a first half Miami owned in a way that made you wonder if there might be another run at 70 points. It was 31-7 at intermission.

In sequence there was Hill’s 78-yard scoring catch, second longest of his Hall of Fame-headed career; a 49-yard field goal; Andrew Van Ginkel’s 33-yard pick-six interception return touchdown; Hill’s 60-yard TD catch; and Mostert’s 1-yard run.

Bam. Then it was 38-7 to start the second half on De’Von Achane’s 4-yard score. His later 2-yard TD run made for the final rout.

That 78-yard play was an audible to Hill, who said he and the QB “locked eyes.”

Hill has been for Tagovailoa’s budding career what Duper and Mark Clayton were to Dan Marino’s.

He is a generational talent.

“One of one,” Tagovailoa calls Hill.

The admiration is mutual.

“Tua is the best in the weld,” Hill tweeted @Cheetah before the flight home.

Not sure what “weld” means, but who am I to argue?

Along with his overt joy for football Hill’s candor also adds a refreshing element to this special Dolphins season.

He won a Super Bowl with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs before the blockbuster trade to Miami before last season. But he is not deferential to that. This past week he said flatly he think this Dolphins team is better than any he played with in K.C.

That might be truth from him or a motivational tool. Either way, Dolfans eat that up, and should. I mean, Miami has been waiting since 2000 to cheer a playoff win, since 1984 to see their team in a Super Bowl, and since 1973 to feel like a champion.

Now it feels like Hill is at the fleet forefront of making all f that feel plausible again.

Sunday wasn’t all upbeat for the Fins.

One week after losing pass rusher Jaelan Phillips for the season to an Achiles injury, Miami saw linebacker Jerome Baker leave the game with a knee injury and not return. Safety Jevon Holland also was out injured.

Full strength might not always be needed to see Miami through this 8-0 run vs. teams with a losing record, like Washington on Sunday.

But chances are full strength will be needed when the Fins confront the schedule’s brutal close to the regular (Cowboys, Ravens, Bills) and then the postseason.

This team has given itself a chance and a hope to make a serious run at Miami’s first Super Bowl in almost 40 years.

And no player has been more valuable in that pursuit through a dozen games than the receiver who is fast enough to win every race he’s in.

Maybe even the league MVP race.