If Leslie Frazier ever feels like taking a day off, the Buffalo Bills’ defense probably would be able to get by.
The team’s defensive coordinator has veteran safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer to thank for that. Now in their fifth year together in Buffalo, Hyde and Poyer have become so in tune with the scheme that Frazier said they could easily stand in front of the defensive meeting room and teach its principles to their teammates.
This is the meat of the schedule, and with the AFC standings as tight as they are, there is no room for any more slipups like happened in Jacksonville, Jay Skurski says.
“It starts with two guys who are really committed to their profession,” Frazier said when asked how Hyde and Poyer have managed to be so consistently good for so long. “First of all, they’re really good athletes, without question, but they’re very smart players, as well, who have a lot of pride and are very committed to getting better. When you’ve got guys who are good athletes that have that type of commitment, you have a chance to see a maturation over time.”
On the field and off, Poyer and Hyde have developed into team leaders. Each is a team captain this season, and they have generally become so inextricably linked that it’s impossible to think of one without the other. The Buffalo News sat down with Hyde and Poyer together ahead of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts at Highmark Stadium to talk about why they wanted to stay together with the Bills, how their remarkable partnership has formed and what makes the other so good.
Since signing as unrestricted free agents with the team on the same day – March 9, 2017 – they’ve each started 76 games – 71 in the regular season and each of the team’s five postseason games. Just one other safety duo in franchise history – Henry Jones and Kurt Schultz – can even come close to touching that longevity. From 1995-99, Jones started 65 times and Schultz started 71 in the regular season.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Davis Webb hopes to coach one day, but not yet. First, he's got a lot of daily races every morning at practice against Josh Allen to tend to, and to win.
A funny thing happens, however, when players have that type of longevity. Outside of One Bills Drive, it sometimes feels as though Hyde and Poyer are taken for granted. It’s as though their reliability and production has come to be expected, when it should, in fact, be celebrated.
“That’s part of being together for the last five years – they feed off each other,” Frazier said. “They really give quarterbacks a hard time sometimes with their looks. There are times Bobby Babich and John Butler, our secondary coaches, we give them the liberty to have input on the game plan, about what type of looks we want to give the quarterback, or what’s the best strategy in this particular defense.
“Just to hear their input, because (Hyde and Poyer) study the tape just like we do, and they know the defense well enough that you can trust their input. … Their talent, as well as their commitment to their craft, has a lot to do with the success that they have on the field. Some guys are very talented, but may not have the same commitment level to being the best that they can be. These guys are very committed.”
After the Week 11 victory over the New York Jets, coach Sean McDermott shed some light on just how much his safety duo means to the organization when he said, “every ship needs a rudder, in terms of steering it where it needs to go, and those guys do a phenomenal job.”
That’s a big reason why each has signed a contract extension within the last 20 months – respective deals that have them in Buffalo through at least the 2022 season.
As a rookie last year, Davis finished with 599 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 35 catches. Now, through nine games, he’s at 238 yards and two touchdowns on 13 catches.
“I wasn’t sure that we'd be able to retain the both of them for the period of time that we have,” Frazier said. “I knew there were different points where they both were in negotiations, and I had my fingers crossed hoping that it would get worked out where we wouldn’t lose either one. And thankfully Brandon Beane and Sean figured it out and got it done and you’re seeing the results.
“I mean, to have both of those guys together for the last five years and to see the level that our secondary’s playing at has a lot to do with the fact that they’ve been together for as long as they have. So kudos to our management staff for getting it worked out because I’m sure that was hard to do.”
The following conversation has been edited lightly for length and clarity …
The Buffalo News: It’s not as though you guys met for the first time on that day back in 2017 when you signed here. How much of a relationship did you have before then?
Jordan Poyer: “I knew Micah from when he played in Green Bay before I actually met him. I remember a coach actually telling me that a lot of the things I did, just the way I played football, reminded him of Micah. That was when I started watching Micah in Green Bay. I remember realizing he wore 33 (the same number Poyer wore at the time in Cleveland). I'm like, 'This dude, he plays ball.' You know what I'm saying?”
The Indianapolis Colts bring one of the top five offensive lines in the NFL to town Sunday to face the Buffalo Bills.
At the time, Poyer was teammates with linebacker Christian Kirksey, who had previously played with Hyde in college at Iowa. During the 2015 offseason, Poyer took a trip to San Diego, which is where Hyde lives in the offseason, to visit Kirksey. That’s when he was introduced to Hyde.
Fittingly, perhaps, that came over a distinctly Buffalo-style meal.
Micah Hyde: “We went to Hooters and got some wings.”
Jordan Poyer: “Yeah, that's how we met, that's how I found out about Micah.”
From then on, Poyer and Hyde might have shared a quick greeting if Hyde was on a FaceTime call with Kirksey from the Browns’ locker room, but the comparisons in Green Bay continued.
Eddie Mayerik, 6, a massive Buffalo Bills fan, was born with two heart valve defects and essentially no pulmonary artery, which in a healthy person carries blood to the lungs to deliver oxygen to the rest of the body.
Micah Hyde: “I didn't really know, know Po yet, but the same experience he had, I had in Green Bay. Every time 33 for the Browns came up on film, I’d get ‘Micah, Micah, he 33 too, he light skinned. Micah, there you go again!’ That's how I knew who Po was.”
When free agency in 2017 rolled around, however, neither Poyer nor Hyde knew the other was in negotiations with the Bills. Once again, enter Kirksey.
Micah Hyde: “He asked me who had interest in free agency, and I said, ‘I'm pretty sure Buffalo.’ He didn't know if he should say something to me, as far as, they're trying to get just one of us” because he knew Poyer was also talking to the Bills. “I don't know if I should be telling you this, but my other boy is thinking about going to Buffalo, too.”
Jordan Poyer: “I had no idea about that.”
The Buffalo News: So on the day you sign, you guys share a van ride over to the team facility. Are you thinking, how’s this – signing two safeties – going to work?
Micah Hyde: “That's exactly what I was thinking. I didn't really follow Buffalo at the time. I knew they had a new head coach, and I know how that works, they bring in their own guys, but I wasn't thinking two new starting safeties. It was just. ‘I don't know, so let's just see how this shakes out.’ Buffalo had interest in me and they were, at the time, the highest bidder. The cold's not an issue for me, so I'm going to go to Buffalo, and then Po ended up coming, too.”
Jordan Poyer: “I knew coming in just based off the people who were already here, I thought I was competing with everybody and Micah was going to be the starter. You saw the contract that he got (five years, $30.5 million), so it's like, OK, Micah's the starter and they've had guys already here for some time now, I'm going to have to bust my (butt) to earn whatever there was to earn.”
“I remember having a conversation when we were picking out our jerseys, like, 'Let's just take over. Let's just be the best we can be.' I take a step back every once in a while, like here, now, and since 2017, the day we walked into this building, the stuff that we've always talked about – it's right in front of us right now. We're in the middle of exactly what we talked about. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to win a championship. I want to sit back one day and really be like, ‘Hey, we really talked that into existence.’ It's just crazy. He's from Fostoria, Ohio. I'm from Astoria, Oregon, small-town dudes who went to college, late-round picks …"
Micah Hyde: “It's kind of the same story. I think that's why when we both got here, we realized this is a hell of an opportunity for both of us. We both want to be the best safety in the league. I'm going to tell you right now – we both want to be the best, but I think we both take pride in being the best duo, because, ultimately, every day we come to work, we talk to each other, 'Hey, let's do this, let's do that. We've got to do this today.' I've been on other teams. He's been on other teams. That's not normal. I know starting safeties can communicate on the field. Even off the field, watch film together, stuff like that. But I'm talking about strictly mindset. Po will text me on a Thursday night and say, 'Hey, this is what we got to do tomorrow.' This is something we do every week just to get ourselves on the same page, because I know I play my best when Po is playing his best. Po plays his best when I play my best. So we feed off each other.
There's not a day that goes by where I come to work, and I'm like, 'I can just chill today. No, I got to do my (expletive), because I know Po is expecting me to do my (expletive). We come into work on Tuesday, we get our workouts in. Wednesday we lift. We hold each other accountable. We lift four times a week, which is not normal during the season. I feel like I've played the best football of my career because of Po – because Po is playing his best.”
"If the Bills win the turnover battle, they likely win the game," writes Jay Skurski.
The Buffalo News: Jordan, is there a time you look at Micah and ask yourself how did Green Bay ever let this guy go?
Jordan Poyer: “All the time. You see the stuff that Aaron (Rodgers) said. … A lot of times, teams, they see a guy who can run fast or jump high or bench a lot of weight, but at the same time, like Micah said, 'What's between their eyes and ears?' When it comes down to it, are they ready to get dirty? We feed off each other with that, like, all the time. Going out there, it's a mindset every time you step on the field. Him and I aren't the biggest guys out there, I damn sure ain't the fastest guy out there and I'm not the strongest guy out there. We both play with a pound-for-pound, dog-eat-dog mindset."
The Buffalo News: So is that what makes him such a good football player?
Jordan Poyer: “That, 100%. I've learned so much of the game of football through Micah. There is so much I do that's a credit to him just making the quarterback blink for another second. There are a lot of plays I've made that is a lot of credit to what he does. I'm sure he'd say the same.
“I think one of the things he's done to help me in my career is he continues to make me want to be a better football player, better person, better father, better husband. When I came here, I didn't want to tell him this, but I looked up to a dude like Micah. I see him coming from Green Bay, saw him go to the NFC championship game. I remember I was in my house, Rachel (Bush, Poyer’s wife) was pregnant, I had just got my kidney surgery, and I'm watching him play the Cowboys in the divisional game. I'm like, ‘Dude, that's where I want to be.’ I'm at home, hurt, done for the season, and I see him, and for it to come to fruition, like we're on the same team next year, I want to be like that. He makes me want to believe in myself, and I know he believes in me and trusts me, and that's what continues to motivate me. I want to play well for him, for this team. I think we both know that. We know this team is going to go as far as we go, as well as we play. Like, hey, we've got to play well today for our team to win the football game. That's every week.”
Quarterback Josh Allen seems to have found his groove again, so while there appears to be plenty of “Wise Guy” support for the Colts these days, we’re not so sure.
The Buffalo News: Micah, what’s it mean to hear him say that?
Micah Hyde: “When we first got here, it didn't take long for me to know Po is that guy. There are just guys in this league who have that mentality, and Po is one of them. Off the field, he may be a nice guy – I feel like our team is made up of a bunch of high-character guys – but once he steps in between those lines, he's a dog. The dude is not 220, and he'll just be out there fighting – hitting tight ends, hitting backs, hitting linemen, whoever. It didn't take long for me to notice that.”
On March 13 of this year, Poyer shared a deeply personal post on Instagram, acknowledging that he had previously battled alcoholism and was celebrating one year of sobriety. One of the first people to text him after that post was Hyde.
Micah Hyde: “I look up to him, too. Just him as a person. Throughout the first four years, I got to see Po for who he is, and I think he makes our teams so much better, because he comes here every day and he's real. He's real with you. He goes out there and he's himself. He knows what he can do on the football field, he knows how he can help people.
“I talked to him after he had that post during the offseason about him really finding himself and how long he's been sober and all that. I texted him after that, and said, 'Man, that is dope, bro.' That took it to a whole new level of just love and respect for Po, because I already knew he was real before that, but for him to show the whole world who he is and just be humble and open to everybody, like, that took it to a whole new level. Everybody looks up to him. It was amazing to see.
"I know Po. I know Po for who he is, but for him to open up to the whole world and just to see all the love he received, that was special to me. That's the biggest thing over the last five years that we've experienced. Like, take the football plays – this dude has made a ton of plays, whether it's run game, picks, forced fumbles, communication, just seeing things, getting other people lined up – like, all that is cool. All that stuff is fine, but off the field, the more I'm in the league, the more I realize that's what I want to inspire in people, is to take bigger steps off the field, because we're only going to play football for so long. So to see Po do that, it was amazing."
He will take the place of Spencer Brown, who was placed on the Reserve/Covid-19 list Thursday.
Jordan Poyer: “I knew this dude was real from the beginning. Micah's seen both sides. He's seen the side of me going crazy, and he's seen the side of me now. … When I put that out there, I was so nervous. I looked at that post for three hours before I actually put it out. To see the love and support I got, it's one thing obviously from your family, but from your friend, your teammate, a guy that you go out there to war with every weekend, it was really special to me. It gives me the motivation to inspire not only my teammates, but other people. There are a lot of people who have alcohol issues and I just want to continue to use that platform to help them.”
Hyde, 30, and his wife, Amanda, have a son – Micah Jr., and a daughter, Maverick, born Aug. 30. Poyer, 30, and his wife, Rachel, have a daughter, Aliyah. Given that they live on opposite sides of the country – Poyer is in the Miami area, while Hyde is in San Diego – their time spent together in the offseason is minimal.
Micah Hyde: “I'm busy with my family. He's busy with his, so there's that understanding, but I think Po hit it best: One day we're going to look back, maybe 10, 15 years from now – I know for a fact we're going to continue to be really, really, really good friends, but I think that's what's going to take our relationship to a new level, because we'll be able to digest what we did and how much we accomplished with each other. It's going to bring us closer then. But right now, we're young, our families are growing, there's so much going on that it's kind of hard to just pick up and go to Florida and go golf for a weekend, but we keep in contact throughout the offseason. Sometimes it's a simple text, ‘You good?’ See you come April, see you come the end of July.”
The relationship is so strong, it’s tough to even get one of them to bite on what annoys them about the other.
Jordan Poyer: “Micah doesn't really have an annoying habit. He's pretty down to earth. He hums a lot. I'm not saying it's an annoying habit, but he does hum a lot. I've noticed that. He'll hum songs random as hell.”
In 71 regular-season games, Poyer has made 17 interceptions, 34 passes defensed, six forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries, 474 tackles and eight sacks. Hyde has 12 interceptions, 32 passes defensed, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 318 tackles and one sack. Somewhat amazingly, Hyde is the only one to have been elected to the Pro Bowl, following the 2017 season. A convincing case can be made, then, that both Hyde and Poyer are two of the more underrated players in the entire NFL.
The Buffalo News: So, when it came time to negotiate new contracts, were the two of you having conversations? Business is business, but could either of you see yourself playing with someone else?
Jordan Poyer: “Oh yeah, we had those conversations. We had a lot of conversations about what it was going to look like. We both obviously wanted to continue to be here. We both wanted to be compensated well, but at the same time, I enjoy the guys I'm around, I enjoy my teammates and we both had the conversation, 'We're going to come back here and try to win this team a championship.' ”
Poyer and Hyde are scheduled to have nearly identical cap hits in 2022, Poyer at $10.3 million and Hyde at $9.7 million.
Micah Hyde: “What we've been able to do is partly because of each other, going out there preparing for each and every game, and like I said, I play my best when Po plays his best, but we've been able to do the last couple years. It's evident. People notice it. This is a business. When you play well, you should be compensated well. The way this league works, you're compared against other guys, so when you have the stats that are better than other guys, you want to get compensated like that, but it was bigger than money. I think it's more just about the respect, receiving that respect. … That's just how me and Po were. So we had a few conversations back and forth. We was able to get signed first, and I was happy as hell for him. I'm like, ‘Man, that's so dope,’ because I knew once that happened last season, he was going to go out there and just ball because you're free, your mind is loose. I knew with him balling, it was going to make me play better. I was the year after, so it's just a blessing.”
Jordan Poyer: “How often does that happen? I don't know how many DBs have played together for five years and done what we've done in those 71 games. The last thing – obviously it's one game at a time – but we just want to win a championship.”
Micah Hyde: “We have to.”
Jordan Poyer: “That's what we're working for.”
