Fire can't keep Dolphins' Tyreek Hill down: ‘Not only person in the world having a bad day'
MIAMI GARDENS — As traumatic as it was to bolt from practice a week ago and see smoke billowing from his house, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill refuses to feel sorry for himself.
He’s grateful for the Davie Fire Department for saving his home, grateful for the health of his family and certainly aware things could have been far worse.
“The way that I look at it is I’m not the only person in the world having a bad day,” Hill said Thursday in his first meeting with reporters who cover the Dolphins since the blaze on Jan. 3. “God has blessed me with great things, and I have a great support system with teammates and family and stuff like that. And I just always try to look at the positive side of things. So that’s been my whole approach throughout all of this although it sucks to see rooms destroyed and everything that you worked for destroyed.”
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Hill and his family have not been able to return to the Southwest Ranches home, which property records show was bought in 2022 for $6.9 million. Hill said he’s unsure when they’ll be able to move back in. The fire department determined the blaze was accidentally set by a child playing with a lighter.
“For now, we just go enjoy our time on the beach,” he said.
Frigid welcome expected at Arrowhead Stadium
His immediate future, however, is anything but a day at the beach.
The Dolphins will face the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in a wild-card game on Saturday night when the latest forecast says the wind chill could hit 30 degrees below zero. Hill knows what it can be like this time of year at Arrowhead, having spent the first six years of his career with the Chiefs before being traded to Miami last year.
“If you believe it’s going to be cold, then you’re going to freeze your (privates) off,” Hill said. “But if you go into this game like not even thinking about any of that you will be fine. And with me being me, I played there and I understand the conditions. I’m not even worried about it at all. So I’m going to go out there with no sleeves and just tell the rest of the guys, ‘Hey, look, man, it’s a mindset. Those guys see you wearing sleeves, obviously they’re going to think you’re soft.’ ”
Hill made the Pro Bowl every season he was in Kansas City, just as he has in Miami. He recalled a Thursday night game in 2016, his rookie year, when he caught a 36-yard touchdown pass to help beat the Raiders 21-13. Chiefs fans chanted his name, he said.
“That was a very special moment for me because as a kid, that’s what you do growing up, visualizing in your head I’m going to have moments like that,” Hill said.
Tyreek Hill: Travis Kelce must be tied up with ‘the Taylor Swift thing'
Chiefs fans won’t be chanting his name Saturday night — at least not to praise him — but he is looking forward to seeing familiar faces once more, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Hill was disappointed when the Dolphins’ road game against the Chiefs earlier this season was played in Germany instead of K.C.
“I haven’t texted Mahomes since they beat our ass,” Hill said. “And I texted Kelce. He still hasn’t texted me back. He’s probably still on the Taylor Swift thing. But yeah, man. Those guys are too famous for me, I guess.”
Hill was speaking on the day he was named the recipient of the Dan Marino MVP Award as chosen by reporters regularly covering the team. Hill caught 119 passes for 1,799 yards (15.1 average) and 13 touchdowns, but it’s his drops that earned his attention this week. Following Thursday’s practice, he remained on the field to catch balls from the JUGS machine.
“You’ve got to find a way to fall in love with the boring things,” he said. “And so I kind of had gotten away from that and now I’m back to it, man, refocusing on this, catching the ball and stuff like that.”
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tyreek Hill ready for return to Kansas City to face Chiefs in playoffs
