KANSAS CITY, Mo. Damien Williams zoomed through the gap at the Chiefs 9-yard-line Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, wiggled left and zigged right. About 20 yards later, it was evident no one would catch the running back who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds at the NFL Combine a few years back.
At least no one on the Vikings.
As Williams was on his way to a 91-yard touchdown run that matched the longest in franchise history and revived a drooping team in what became a 26-23 victory, he looked up at the end zone screen.
In that virtual mirror, an object just about instantaneously became closer than it had appeared.
Here suddenly was human blur/walking muscle/Motaur Tyreek Hill, who was a good 10 yards from Williams when he cranked into warp speed with the notion of stepping in the way of Mackensie Alexanders last-ditch pursuit of Williams.
Then Hill realized he could actually run down Williams, because, after all, I dont mind showing my speed, you know what Im saying?
In fact, Hill reached a speed of 22.64 MPH, the fastest hes ever attained on an NFL play from scrimmage, according to NextGenStats. And he sustained a speed of at least 21.46 MPH for four seconds the fastest speed sustained that long by any NFL player this season.
No wonder after he beat Williams into the end zone, Williams laughingly said he told Hill, Dont embarrass me like that (any) more on TV, man.
Hey, could have been worse: As he watched on the screen, Williams had thought Hill would overtake him on his left side and was a little startled when he arrived to his right.
I almost dropped the ball, Williams said, laughing but maybe not quite joking.
Then there was this
I told him if we had like five more yards, I would have stripped the ball from him and then taken his touchdown, Hill said.
Hill so enjoyed saying that that he punctuated it by adding, I told him that, and laughing out loud.
Their exchange was a nice snapshot of a revived vibe in the Chiefs locker room. This was a much-needed win with so much weighing down this promising season in recent weeks including losing three of their last four, all at Arrowhead, and trying to move forward with Patrick Mahomes missing his second straight start after suffering a dislocated kneecap Oct. 17 at Denver.
The ultimate highlight of the game was Harrison Butkers 44-yard field goal as time ran out, both because of the dramatic victory it provided the Chiefs (6-3) over a good Minnesota team (6-3), and because the rehabilitating Mahomes had the presence of mind to get the heck out of the way after going out on the field to congratulate Butker.
