Fostoria's Hyde toughing out Bills' season

In the Buffalo Bills' heyday of playing in four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s, ESPN commentator Chris Berman repeatedly said, "No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills." It's time for the Bills to revisit history if they're going to reach the American Conference playoffs for the fifth straight year. After losing three games in a recent four-game stretch, the Bills find themselves with a 6-5 record heading into Sunday's game on the road against the defending National Conference Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Buffalo entered this weekend one spot out of the playoffs. "This year has been up and down, up and down," Buffalo free safety Micah Hyde, a former all-Ohio player at Fostoria High School, said in a phone interview this week. "We haven't played our best ball, but we're hoping to kick into gear here soon and try to make a run for it." The Bills' many difficulties have been well-documented, with the most recent of them culminating in the firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. The Bills, with Joe Brady now guiding the offense, beat the New York Jets 32-6 last week, but concerns remain with a defense that has been plagued by injuries all season. Linebacker Matt Milano and cornerback Tre'Davious White have suffered season-ending injuries, and numerous other defensive backs, including Hyde, have missed time. Hyde has been listed as day-to-day this week with ongoing neck difficulties. A couple of stingers -- nerve injuries of the neck and shoulder -- have hindered him for about the last month. "I felt good up until the week before the Cincinnati game," Hyde said, referring to a Nov. 5 24-18 loss to the Bengals. "I got dinged up a little bit. I went into the Cincinnati game not really 100% healthy and I messed it up some more, so I sat out the next week, then I got back out there a couple of days ago and I was able to play, but I had another little stinger. "So, I'm 32, playing a child's game. You know it's going to happen eventually. Right now, I'm just out there day by day, waking up each morning and trying to give myself the best opportunity to go out there and compete." It was during competition last year when a herniated disc in the season's second week caused Hyde to have surgery and miss the remainder of the Bills' games. He's come back and felt as though he's mostly played well while intercepting two passes and making 38 tackles. But in his 11th season and coming off the most serious injury of his career, it's not been easy. "It's been tough, for sure," he said. "There are weeks when you're having to go out there and practice and you're not really 100%. It's tough. But it's my job, so I just try to ignore it and go out there and try to make plays and make practice carry over into the games."This is the time of year when everyone's not 100%. It's starting to get cold and this and that and there's a playoff push that you've just got to mentally prepare yourself for. "I'm trying not to think about, physically, how I feel. Mentally, I'm just trying to push myself."Hyde's often spoke of the burning desire to reach a Super Bowl after having been part of losses in three conference championship games with the Green Bay Packers and the Bills. But there's nothing certain about this season or any to follow, with him being in the final year of his current contract and his 33rd birthday coming up on Dec. 31. "I haven't even been thinking about down the road," he said. "That's where it's at, honestly, right now." Hyde would love to beat the Eagles on their own turf on Sunday, do the same against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs the next week and then go on to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. But at the end of any game, regardless of the outcome, he'll find contentment when he walks through the door of his house. "To be home with the kids (son Micah Jr., 3, and daughter Maverick, 2) and, obviously, (wife) Amanda, that's the best thing about football games -- getting home and, hopefully, for the most part being healthy, hugging and kissing them, putting the kids to bed and just kind of relaxing," he said. "That's kind of where I'm at now in my career -- just playing for them."