Arrowhead Pride
During his long career, Kansas City’s veteran wide receiver has never been in a conference championship.
The Kansas City Chiefs are just one victory away from reaching their third straight Super Bowl. With a victory over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s AFC Championship on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, they’ll win their fifth Lamar Hunt trophy under head coach Andy Reid.
But not every one of the team’s players has been along for the whole ride. Before last Saturday’s Divisional round victory over the Houston Texans, veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins had participated in just two playoff wins during his 13 previous NFL seasons. Even though he’s been considered one of the league’s top wideouts for more than a decade, Sunday’s game will be the deepest Hopkins has ever gone into the postseason.
“It’s a childhood dream,” he said of being just one game away from a Super Bowl. “I played Madden growing up — always trying to get to that Super Bowl game. So as a kid, that’s a lifelong goal.”
But if there’s one thing Hopkins has learned over his long career, it’s that he can’t look past the next game.
“I don’t like looking ahead,” he added. “I’ve got to go out and practice today and be perfect.”
Hopkins is right. Beating the Bills — who have a blood vendetta against Kansas City after having the Chiefs knock them out of the playoffs three times in the last four seasons — will be a big challenge.
No one knows this better than Hopkins, who is now 4-3 against the Bills in his career. In 2019, he had six catches for 90 yards as the Texans beat the Bills 22-19 in overtime to qualify for the Divisional round game in Kansas City. He’ll be playing against Buffalo for the third time this season.
“I’m 0-2 against those guys [this year],” he noted. “Hopefully I can go out and get a win. They beat me when I was in Tennessee and they beat me when I came here. So I’ve got some familiarity with them — and played them in previous years as well. They’re a good defense — [a] good team. We’ve just got to go out and execute.”
Both of Hopkins’ losses to the Bills this season were in Buffalo. After his first postseason experience in Arrowhead as a member of the Chiefs, he’s hoping that will make a difference.
“I think last week was pretty fun,” he told reporters, ”especially [the] atmosphere. I’m looking forward to seeing Arrowhead this coming Sunday.”
