Winfield said taunting Hill was something he had to do to earn revenge for what the receiver did in their previous matchup in Week 12.
In the final minutes of Tampa Bay's 31-9 victory against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV on Sunday, Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr taunted Chiefs wideout Tyreek Hill, earning revenge for what the receiver did in their previous matchup in Week 12.
"The taunting, man it's something I had to do," Winfield said. "When we played them earlier, Hill went off on us. He backflipped right in front of my face and gave me the peace sign. So, it was only right that I gave him the peace sign right back to him. It felt amazing to be able to do that."
When the Chiefs played the Bucs in the regular season, Hill caught 13 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns, one of which he burned Winfield on and gave him the deuces on the way to the end zone.
Winfield returned the favor against Hill on the game's largest stage, however. Patrick Mahomes tried to complete a pass to Hill but the rookie safety successfully defended it, turning the ball over on downs in the game's waning minutes and setting up his opportunity to throw the deuces. That drew a taunting penalty, but the Buccaneers still claimed possession and closed out the game.
Winfield was a part of a Super Bowl-winning defense that limited the Chiefs to 350 yards of total offense, including 270 yards in the air. The Buccaneers defense racked up more pressures against Mahomes than any other defense in Super Bowl history.
Tampa Bay's defense is also responsible for handing Mahomes his first loss by more than one score since Nov. 19, 2016, when he was at Texas Tech.