Still a sure thing

Evidently, some people haven't learned not to bet against Micah Hyde. Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde (23) walks off the field following an NFL preseason football game against the Chicago Bears, Saturday, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski) Kamil Krzaczynski Yes, he's one of the Buffalo Bills' oldest players. Yes, he's returning from an injury that cost him most of the 2022 season. But he was serious last September when he started the social-media hashtag "#23In23." And, indeed, No. 23, who still owns a number of Fostoria High School records, will be starting for the Bills at safety when they face the host New York Jets on the season-opening edition of Monday Night Football on Sept. 11. "I've got a chip on my shoulder," Hyde said in a recent phone interview. "I'm 32 and coming off a serious neck injury and a lot of people don't think I can get back to where I was before the surgery. I've got a little bit to prove, man. Even at year 11, all these years I've been playing, I've got a chip on my shoulder all over again. Getting a little bit of hunger is what allows me to play my best, so here it is. I'm excited for it." Beating expectations Being doubted is nothing new for Hyde. Although he was an all-Ohio high school performer, most of his college opportunities came from the mid-major ranks. He accepted a scholarship offer from Iowa and he was named the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year as a senior. Despite having made a number of splash plays in college, Hyde's measurables at the NFL Combine didn't just jump off the chart and he finally went to the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the NFL draft. After four solid seasons in Green Bay, he wasn't offered a second contract. So, he rewarded his new team, the Bills, with a 2017 season in which he helped the Bills make the playoffs by earning an AFC Pro Bowl bid and second-team All-Pro recognition. Since then, he's teamed with fellow 32-year-old Jordan Poyer to form one of the NFL's top safety tandems, with Hyde being named second-team All-Pro again in 2021. Powering ahead Now, though, Hyde is in a season during which he'll hit his 33rd birthday and see his current contract expire. And many analysts wonder if the Bills' window of opportunity to reach the Super Bowl is closing after three straight American Conference East Division titles and serious challenges being foreseen as coming from the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets. FILE -Buffalo Bills defensive back Micah Hyde (23) makes a catch during NFL football practice in Orchard Park, N.Y., Tuesday June 13, 2023. Micah Hydeâs season-ending neck injury and Jordan Poyerâs expiring contract provided the Buffalo Bills starting safety tandem a reminder their playing time together will one day come to an end. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File) Jeffrey T. Barnes But the Bills have other ideas. "Everyone in the locker room has one goal and that's to win a championship," said Hyde, who has been on three teams — two in Green Bay and one in Buffalo — that have lost in conference title games. "We want to bring a championship back to Buffalo. That's our goal." Long regular seasons and nine years that have ended with playoff defeats have taught Hyde how difficult it is just to get to the Super Bowl. "I've got a lot of buddies who have and they all say the same thing: You've got to be playing your best and you've got to have a little bit of luck," he said. "That's where we're trying to get to." After sustaining the injury in Week 2 last year, Hyde underwent surgery for a herniated disc and healed quickly enough to gain clearance to play in the conference championship contest if Buffalo was to make it. The Cincinnati Bengals, however, ousted the Bills in the divisional round. Hyde was fine through the team's organized team activities and minicamp in the summer but found the going to be more tough after training camp opened in late July. While not playing for nearly a year spared Hyde's body a great deal of wear and tear, it also wasn't in tune with playing football at the sport's highest level. "It's timing, but it's also having the pads on and not being able to hit and get off of blocks and all that stuff," he said. "It's just getting back to football. I hadn't played football in almost a year. I wasn't tackling and all that type of stuff. It was just knocking the rust off. "Once you're playing a professional sport and you're gone for almost a year, it's hard to duplicate it in your workouts. Yeah, I was running a lot. Yeah, I was lifting a lot. But the way you get better at playing football is by playing football. That's always how it's been. Now, you've got to go out and do it. So, I was finally able to get to training camp and get back to my ways." Though his injury came through tackling, Hyde said doing so again came seamlessly. "I didn't even think about it," he said. "I think the best thing for me was not even thinking about the injury and surgery and recovery. Ultimately when I look at my career, when you think about an injury you have, No. 1, it causes you to play slow and not play as well. And that's how you hurt something else. I've basically learned from the past and said I'm not even going to think about it and gone out there to play football, like at City Park when I was little, just playing football and having fun with it." Now and then In 2017, when Hyde arrived in Buffalo along with head coach Sean McDermott and players such as Poyer, cornerback Tre'Davious White and offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, Hyde still had most of his career in front of him. He well realizes he's now near the end, but that's not in his crosshairs for now, even with no contract as of yet for next year. "I'm playing it year to year right now," he said. "Obviously, coming off a serious neck injury, I know it's not like I'm going to play another eight, nine years. I know that it's the back end of my career. So, I'm just going to play year to hear and just listen to my body, to be honest. I don't want to be hurting, obviously, years and years from now from playing extra years and that stuff. It's never been, really, about the money. I just want to win a Super Bowl right now. I want to win a Super Bowl so badly. That's kind of the only thing that's keeping me in this. "Maybe if this was a different year and the Buffalo Bills weren't going to win a Super Bowl and had no chance to win the Super Bowl and maybe had no quarterback or something, I don't know. Maybe I'd think differently about this season. But as of now, we're full force as a team trying to win a Super Bowl and we have a chance to do it, so I want to be a part of it." The first step on that mission comes in nine days when Hyde and the rest of the Bills' formidable defense gets a test from future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, the new Jets quarterback and a former teammate of Hyde's in Green Bay. "It's going to be fun, man," Hyde said. "It's going to be a great time and I'm looking forward to it. New York City, Monday night — that's going to be awesome."