Micah Hyde Explains the Fit He and Jordan Poyer Threw by Proudly Proclaiming, 'Damn Right I'm a Sore Loser'
A lot has been made of this angry storm-off by Jordan Hoyer and Micah Hyde late Monday night. And with good reason. After Sean McDermott's game-long histrionics and the Bills' utter inability to handle the weather conditions in a stadium that is a few miles from where they all live, it can come across as a little on the petulant side when you can't handle a question from some nerd armed with nothing but a phone with the voice recorder on and the ability to string sentences together.
On the other hand, you can understand their frustration. The Bills defensive system is largely a top-down scheme. One where so much of it is determined by these two showing a certain pre-snap look and then flexing out of it post-snap, with one or both of them rotating in or out of one coverage in favor of another to keep quarterbacks off balance. And when that part of your game is completely taken away from you by an opponents who doesn't give a dusty fuck where you're lining up or moving to, they just run right at you into your puny 9-man boxes and you're helpless to do anything stop it? Well, it's easy to see how this wouldn't be their finest moment.
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And now with the Buccaneers game coming up, Hyde spoke with the media and semi-explained himself.
NY Post - “Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of you guys, and I don’t see myself as above you guys,” Hyde said on Wednesday. “I really treat you guys as friends … The type of relationships I build with you guys aren’t just BS. I really mean it. I respect the s–t out of you guys.
“And then when something like that happens after a game, I expect more. And maybe I’m naive. Maybe I shouldn’t. But I hold you guys to a higher standard just like you guys hold me, and like I said it’s all about respect.”
I have to admit, I don't hate it. The part about being "a sore loser" I mean. The stuff about making friends with the media and respecting the shit out of them, I can live without. I've been a Patriots fan a lot longer than I've been an occasional participant in press conferences. So I believe that as a general rule, the poorly groomed, socially awkward homunculi sitting in those seats nervously raising their hands for your attention are at most, to be tolerated. And at the very best, to be used for your advantage. To get whatever message out that will somehow give you a competitive edge in your next game, if at all possible. If they could all pureed into a fine sluice and then worked into the food on the training table for their nutrients, I'd be all for it. And again, I say this as someone who is sometimes among them.
But to each his own. If Hyde would rather play nice and make friends with them, that's his right. He's a very good safety and he's earned it. As long as he knows that if gets sick, they're not going to be bringing him soup. And if he messes up on or off the field and they can get clicks by hammering their newest, bested buddy, they won't hesitate to. Once you realize that, then you don't feel so bad about cutting their questions short or feel the need to apologize for anything.
That's what they teach in Foxboro. And if Hyde ever wants to sign here to play in the best defense in the league and for a coach who will never ask him to apologize for treating a reporter like something foul he stepped in, that would be just fine with me.
After all, it's in New England that Mike Vrabel learned to handle annoying questions that way. Now he's one of the best in the business:
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We don't mind sore losers here. In fact, we prefer them. I think it explains a lot about the last 20+ years.