MIAMI — Tyreek Hill believes that if he weren’t a famous football player, officers may have shot or arrested him during a police confrontation that “went from 0 to 60,” the Dolphins star said Monday.

The wide receiver was driving to the Dolphins-Jacksonville Jaguars game on Sunday when Miami-Dade police stopped him just outside Hard Rock Stadium, handcuffed him and put him face down on the pavement.

“If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, Lord knows, I probably would have been, like, worst-case scenario, I would have been shot or would have been locked up” and “put behind bars, you know, for a simple speeding ticket,” Hill told NBC News.

“And that’s crazy that officers would take it, you know, to that level.”

The Miami-Dade Police Department has launched an internal affairs investigation, and at least one officer has been taken off the streets in the wake of the confrontation, which was captured on video that has been widely shared on social media.

Hill insists he was cooperative with police, rolling down his window and giving his identification. He said he was in no rush because he was within the shadows of Hard Rock Stadium and had no reason to be anxious or in a hurry.

“It just went from 0 to 60, man, from the moment that those guys pulled up behind me, knocked on my window, it went from 0 to 60 immediately,” said Hill, adding that he called team security officials from the car.

A representative for the police union said Hill was at fault for not being “immediately” cooperative with officers.

The police department declined to comment on the union’s account, saying police officials must wait until the internal affairs investigation is completed before they publicly discuss the incident.

Hill was cited for reckless driving and driving without a license, said his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. 

Hill, 30, thanked teammates — tight end Jonnu Smith and defensive lineman Calais Campbell — who were driving by, saw him being detained and stopped to help.

Campbell was handcuffed even though he was standing off to the side, Hill said. The highly respected Campbell, 38, is a former Walter Payton Man of the Year winner.

“When I saw Jonnu and Calais pull up … I didn’t feel alone anymore,” Hill said. “They ended up handcuffing Calais for just being 6-8 I think. But it was crazy. It was crazy how that same officer who took me down handcuffed Calais for just standing on the side.”

Ultimately, Hill said, he’s happy no one was injured or worse.

“That officer was really on a power trip,” he said. “He felt like he just needed to … do something that day, you know. But like I said, I’m glad nobody was hurt.”

Hill is one of pro football’s best-known playmakers.

His 77 career touchdown catches are fifth among active players and 36th all time, just behind No. 35 DeAndre Hopkins (78) and the retired Harold Carmichael and Charley Taylor, who are tied with 79. Carmichael and Taylor are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The incident didn’t appear to affect Hill’s on-field performance in Sunday’s season opener; he caught seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in Miami’s 20-17 victory.

Faced with first-and-10 from the Miami 20, late in the third quarter with the Jags leading 17-7, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa connected with Hill on a slant at the Dolphins’ 46-yard line.

Hill then raced past two Jaguars defenders to complete the electrifying 80-yard TD, which sparked the Miami comeback.

Hill put his hands behind his back, feigning that he was being handcuffed, as teammate Jaylen Waddle came up to walk him off as if he were the arresting officer.

“You got to learn how to laugh and have a good time,” he said. “Man, whenever people think you’re … having a bad situation or having a low moment, I always try to find the good in every situation. That’s one way I’m able to stay so strong-minded as a young male, well, as a young Black male.”

He said he was also grateful that his pregnant wife, Keeta, wasn’t in the car.

Under normal circumstances, she would have been along for the ride. But she was running late Sunday and decided to travel to the stadium on her own, they said.

“I’m so relieved she wasn’t [there], because if they would have tried to pull my wife out the car, Lord knows what would [have] happened,” Hill said. “I’m glad she wasn’t in the car.”

Jesse Kirsch reported from Miami and David K. Li from New York City.

The Dallas Cowboys took care of business on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns and needless to say it was the kind of thing that we all needed to see from this team.

Just about every headline about the team between last season’s playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers and kickoff on Sunday in Cleveland had to do with a lack of free agency activity or contract extensions that were not happening. The Cowboys took care of extensions for both CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott recently and on Sunday the team in no way looked like one under the cloud that appeared to hover over them to this point.

It was impressive in this respect. We do not need to overreact and plan a trip to New Orleans, incidentally Dallas plays the Saints next, but we can celebrate that this looks like one of the better teams in the league.

Context matters in all discussions which is why we perform the exercise we are about to every week.

Here are our thoughts on Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys game, one day later.

The Eric Kendricks signing may have been a much bigger deal than we originally made it out to be

Remember that Eric Kendricks initially agreed to terms with the San Francisco 49ers. No, seriously. This happened.

It was an eleventh hour sort of thing how the Cowboys got the player who might wind up winning NFC Defensive Player of the Week with how he played in Cleveland. Kendricks was the first free agent signing that Dallas made and given all of the “all in” stuff, the initial deal with San Francisco and Dallas’ history with free agency in general, it was kind of a yawn sort of reaction from folks.

Kendricks was a star on Sunday against the Browns. While the Cleveland offense is hardly one to brag about slowing down, Kendricks was everywhere and manning the group with serious authority.

What’s more is that Kendricks did something the Cowboys franchise has not seen in almost 40 years. He joined Tommy Haynes and Jim Jeffcoat as the only three players to record two sacks and an interception in a single game.

It would be foolish to expect these kind of performances every single week, and for what it’s worth while Kendricks’ name is the one in the history books, Micah Parsons deserves an enormous amount of credit for the statistics he picked up.

But that is sort of the thing. Dallas finally has a linebacker capable of capitalizing on the chaos created by the teammates around him. Kendricks may have been the perfect fit for what this team has needed in the heart of its defense.

Speaking of!

Along those lines, Mike Zimmer may have been exactly what this team needed

It will be interesting to measure this defense against Derek Carr’s Saints next week (what a time to be saying this in total seriousness), but right now Mike Zimmer looks like the perfect person for the Cowboys to have turned the defense over to.

I’ll admit that I was skeptical and ultimately was down on the move. It felt like Dallas doing something comfortable and not trying hard to change, but maybe that’s because they knew the exact kind of change needed and the perfect person to implement it.

All throughout training camp we heard Cowboys players talking about the level of accountability that Zimmer was instilling within them. Cleveland ultimately put some points on the scoreboard in this game, but they happened when the Cowboys had called off the horses with the game well out of reach.

Maybe the Cowboys had a plan all along and it actually worked. Respect.

The Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb connection will define this team, both now and long-term

CeeDee Lamb “only” had five catches for 61 yards in this game, but the majority of his work came early on when the game was competitive. As Dallas put it on ice he also got a chance to rest.

That Lamb looked so good in the first bit of action we have seen him during was highly impressive. The same can be true for his quarterback in Dak Prescott, and seeing how the organization just made substantial commitments to them for the next half-decade, what the team does or does not accomplish will rest largely on their shoulders.

It is not hyperbole to say that the success of this relationship is among the most very important things going on with the Dallas Cowboys for the next handful of years. Seeing their connection and chemistry thrive on Sunday, albeit in a small sample size, was a great reinforcement on the idea that Dallas has made the right bet here.