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KC Chiefs: Tyreek Hill is key vs Patriots in AFC Championship Game

By Leigh Oleszczak

FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a touchdown pass against the defense of Devin McCourty #32 of the New England Patriots in the third quarter at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a touchdown pass against the defense of Devin McCourty #32 of the New England Patriots in the third quarter at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /
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The KC Chiefs host the New England Patriots on Sunday for the rights to go to the Super Bowl. If the Chiefs want to represent the AFC in the biggest game of the season, Tyreek Hill has to have the game of his life.

Since Tyreek Hill got to the NFL in 2016, the Kansas City Chiefs have faced the Patriots twice. In those two games, Hill combined for 14 receptions for 275 yards and four touchdowns. In other words, Hill has completely owned the Patriots and is the key to beating them on Sunday.

By now, the Patriots are well-aware that they’ve struggled with containing Hill. Bill Belichick has always been great at taking away a team’s best weapon, so one would have to think that Hill would be the one he’s trying to faze out come Sunday.

Even if the Patriots are successful in doing that, there’s still Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins in the receiving game and Damien Williams has been great in the run game. Still, most Chiefs fans would probably feel better if Hill had the kind of game he did the last time these two teams met.

In that game, the KC Chiefs number one wideout hauled in seven catches for 142 yards and a whopping three touchdowns. He absolutely smoked the Patriots secondary all night long and were it not for a slow start by Patrick Mahomes and the offense to start that game, the Chiefs might have won in blowout fashion.

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Hill has been great in his two games against New England so far, but those games weren’t as meaningful as this one is. Whoever wins this game is representing the AFC in the Super Bowl, something the Chiefs haven’t experienced since the 1969 season. A good portion of the fan base wasn’t alive yet and if they were alive, they weren’t very old.

Hill more than likely will be shadowed by Stephon Gilmore and that could be a trickier match-up than in the past two meetings. Gilmore did not cover Hill in the previous meeting, he actually shadowed Watkins, limiting him to two catches for 18 yards.

While Hill has been the better weapon for the Chiefs this year, Watkins has proven he’s a good receiver and being held to just 18 yards against Gilmore is something noteworthy for sure. Hill is faster than Watkins, and nearly everyone in the league (is anyone faster than him?), so that’ll play into this match-up too.

If Hill goes off the way he did last time, the Chiefs have a very good chance at winning the ball game. If, however, Belichick is successful in limiting the Chiefs’ best weapon, this game could be one that the Patriots find themselves victorious in.

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Not many teams have been able to limit Tyreek Hill this year, so if the Patriots can figure out a way to do so,  they deserve to win. Hopefully Hill continues his success against New England because if he has a huge game, it’s very likely that the Kansas City Chiefs win on Sunday.

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