Like, you can say what you want, but we've got maybe the greatest deep threat in the NFL on our team, who also happens to be an incredibly instinctive route runner.

And we've got one of the NFL's worst downfield passers during the last decade, who only hit two of those passes to Tyreek Hill last season.

I think I know where I'm assigning the blame.
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You can't make that statement at ALL.

No, it wasn't a 9, but it was a double move and a go. Why is there any reason to believe that he's supposed to run a 'meandering middle' route there? If he ran a true post, maybe I'd buy it. But 'eh, just kinda slide a little to your right as you run' isn't any kind of pass pattern I've ever seen. You don't just drift in a planned route and that's what Hill did there.

If he's supposed to break it inside, he'd have a harder break than that.

You have to run at defined angles on timing/deep pass routes. A 7 degree break from center isn't any sort of defined angle. He just drifted - you're never taught that.
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And he does slow up a bit shortly after the 20. Remember that Hill is a 'foot fire' player in how he generates his speed, yet there his stride slows down. He doesn't gain/maintain acceleration the same way Conley does - those big long strides yet that's what he does a little there; his stride slows into almost a distance lope. Look at about the 18, right after he gets inside - that's not full tilt Hill at all. And around the 9 he picks it back up again but too late to save it.

They just weren't on the same page there. It happens.
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So you won't critically examine the play but rather just go with your usual ad hominems. Got it.

There are clear, simple football explanations as to why your vision of this play doesn't check out. You're welcome to ignore them if you'd like.
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It does look like he slowed a step about the 20 but I think that may be the stream?
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Naw, man. C'mon.

The route is going to the inside, and Smith leads him up the field.

He just missed it. Which...is what he does.
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It's a skinny post.
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If it's any kind of post, it was a bad route I'd think. I'm not really sure what it was
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Then it's a shitty skinny post. He never made a cut, he just slowly drifted. A skinny post and he'd have hammered off that left foot to create even more space there - he didn't. He rolled the hell out of it and simply never flattened out.

It looks a hell of a lot more like he just didn't run a precise route, figured it out around the 20 and couldn't get himself back on track, hence his slowing up around the 18.

Whatever it is, it's not done well. And to believe it was a skinny post you'd have to say that Smith didn't just miss by the 2 feet that the 'overthrow' appears to be, but rather by probably 5 yards or so.

Nah, I can either go with "Hill's route was imprecise so the throw missed by 2-3 feet" or "Hill ran a bad skinny post and the throw missed by 4-5 yards".

The former is far more likely.
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The more i watch the Chiefs vs Eagles game the more i see that Alex Smith got pounded all game.
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If Hill doesn't turn his head to watch for the ball at 20 yards out his run stays straight and he is in the right spot to catch the ball. At the 20 he turns his head to watch and starts drifting inside.
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Found it in a rookie highlight video. Here ya go.


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I have a hard time believing that Smith overthrew Hill
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Just thinking and this is off-topic a little - but man - that Hunt draft pick was so incredibly done. Very good job by them. I knew he'd be something special.
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Looks like the safety (23) grabbed his hammy about the time it looked like Hill was going to haul that in for a TD.

I'm not an Alexual by any means, but I'm not a hater either. It just kills me the lengths that some go to discredit him. Look there is plenty of evidence from over the years that Alex is not an elite QB. This clip is not one of them.
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