South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Safety net: Hyde, Poyer providing cover
Duo showing why DC Frazier wanted them for his system
Coming off the excitement of a playoff win, while focused on prepping to interview for the Dolphins’ head coaching vacancy, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier couldn’t leave his office before sending a congratulatory text to safety Micah Hyde early Sunday morning.
For all the emotions he was juggling, Frazier’s mind kept coming back to Hyde’s leaping over-the-shoulder interception of Mac Jones’ pass intended for Nelson Agholor in the end zone to snuff out the Patriots’ opening drive in the Bills’ 47-17 wild-card playoff win on Saturday.
“It was hard to see from the sideline what exactly happened or how he made that catch, so when I got in my office and had a chance to watch it and ran it back a few times,” recalled Frazier. “It was just an incredible play by a very, very good player.”
With the Patriots down 7-0 and facing first-and-10 at the Buffalo 34, Hyde was in the middle of the field when Jones saw Agholor bursting past Levi Wallace up the left sideline. Hyde immediately sprinted toward the receiver and snatched the ball away mere inches from Agholor’s fingertips.
Hyde isn’t sure how he got there, saying: “I kind of blacked out.”
For Frazier, it was a play he has come to expect from his safety tandem rounded out by Jordan Poyer who, along with cornerback Tre’Davious White, have anchored Buffalo’s playmaking secondary over the past five years. Exceptional as the trio has been over that stretch in combining for 48 interceptions (Poyer has 18, White 16 and Hyde 14), this just might be the safety tandem’s best season with White having missed the final six games with a knee injury.
Hyde and Poyer have played together for so long in the same system, they instinctually read off each other while also being adept at disguising their intentions to keep opposing quarterbacks guessing. What’s no coincidence is how they both landed in Buffalo by agreeing to contracts on the first day of free agency in March 2017.
Hyde, who spent his first four seasons in Green Bay, and Poyer, coming off threeplus seasons in Cleveland, were specifically targeted as players who fit the defensive system being introduced by Frazier and newly hired head coach Sean McDermott.
Poyer, who earned his first All-Pro honors this season, and Hyde, who was tied for third with 10 votes, each finished the season with five interceptions — the NFL’s only safety duo with five or more each — and were part of a defense which allowed the fewest yards, yards passing and points in the NFL.
“They are the backbone of our secondary,” Frazier said. “I don’t know where we’d be without them.”
The next assignment for the Bills secondary comes Sunday against the Chiefs.
“They do it all,” Hyde said. “These guys can literally score on any single play.”