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Bills enjoy safeties in numbers with Hyde and Poyer

Bills enjoy safeties in numbers with Hyde and Poyer
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Coming off the excitement of a playoff win, while focused on prepping to interview for the Miami 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 Buffalo’s 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 New England 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, while making sure to land inbounds before tumbling into the sideline.

Hyde isn’t sure how he got there, saying: “I kind of blacked out.”

Wallace, believing he was beaten, was surprised to see a flash of Hyde’s blue jersey streak past him.

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.

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 two-time AFC East champion Bills are headed to play a divisional playoff game at Kansas City on Sunday.