In the 2021 regular season, the Buffalo Bills had the NFL’s best safety duo in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, and there isn’t really a lot of room to argue. Per Pro Football Focus, Hyde allowed 18 catches on 26 targets for 205 yards, 38 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, five interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 78.8. Poyer was even better, allowing 13 catches on 27 targets for 61 yards, 40 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, five interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 19.6, which is absolutely ridiculous.
But with 5:48 left in the first quarter of the Bills’ wild-card game against the Patriots, it was Hyde who stepped up to be the hero. Patriots quarterback Mac Jones tried to fit one in to Nelson Agholor, who had cornerback Levi Wallace beaten on a deep boundary route for what would have been a game-tying touchdown.
But Hyde swooped in out of nowhere to reject that possibility.
MICAH HYDE STEALS A TD AWAY FROM NEW ENGLAND. #BillsMafia #SuperWildCard
📺: #NEvsBUF on CBS
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/TSu1xX7lkC— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2022
The full-field view shows just how exceptional the play was.
Micah Hyde covered 21.4 yards in 2.9 seconds to intercept Mac Jones' deep pass. Hyde was 14.4 yards away from Nelson Agholor when the pass was thrown, and 0.6 yards away at arrival.
» Hyde (since 2020): 31.2% ball hawk rate (3rd in NFL, min. 40 targets)#NEvsBUF | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/rIB9p7doOf
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 16, 2022
21.4 yards in 2.9 seconds? Hyde ran a 4.56 40-yard dash at the 2013 scouting combine, which just goes to show you that track speed and field speed are two entirely different things.
