Micah Hyde’s “Finish What We Started” Mantra Goes Deeper Than Winning Games
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
One day before the Bills were set to begin another postseason run, longtime Bills safety Micah Hyde starred in a playoff hype video that culminated with a simple mantra for the team: “It’s time to finish what we started.”
The video, which was posted three days before the Bills’ Wild Card matchup with Detroit, has had Bills Mafia fired up ever since.
Love this soooo much!! Gives me all the feels! Micah you are everything this team and city is and I would love nothing more than seeing you get a ring……… LFG!!!
— Danielle Woodley (@DaniWood8286) January 10, 2025
With Buffalo’s first-ever Lombardi trophy now just three wins away, Hyde’s words are amplified tenfold. However, his message simply goes beyond winning games; it means expelling all the baggage that has clouded Buffalo since the ’90s, and doing that begins with No. 17 proving that he is the definitive MVP.
One of Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen gets a major defining playoff W next weekend and the other will get meme’d into oblivion as a choke artist when the games really matter. How can you not be romantic about this sport.
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 12, 2025
The NFL’s marquee game of the Divisional Round features Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson locked into a duel that has a ton on the line in ways both material and symbolic. The quarterbacks were in a two-horse race for NFL MVP, and while the votes are in (and sealed), Allen can either put an exclamation point on his victory or enjoy the last laugh on Lamar with a career-defining win on Sunday.
From the jump, Allen has been on a mission to destroy every dumbass narrative ever formed about him. It started in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals, the first of three games this season where Allen had multiple passing and rushing touchdowns, and Allen can’t accomplish this goal without vanquishing the Ravens. This game has all the hype of the Bills-Chiefs divisional round matchup from three years ago.
It’s also an opportunity for Allen to get revenge on Jackson after the two QBs went head-to-head in Week 5, with Buffalo being absolutely embarrassed in prime time. It will be a supreme challenge for the Bills, who are facing a Ravens defense that has shored up its secondary from where it was earlier this season.
“They got after us earlier this year, so we’ve got a lot of film to watch,” Allen said. “It’s a great team, it’s a great quarterback, obviously, with Lamar, what he’s able to do. He’s one of the most dynamic — if not the most dynamic — quarterbacks in the league. He’s so fun to watch, but I’ll be watching their defense this week, so that’s our focus.”
Allen has been heavily focused since their two-game mini-skid earlier this season, as Buffalo won ten of eleven games with the MVP co-favorite under center. In that time, Allen threw for 20 touchdowns (against six picks), adding another 10 on the ground, and even caught a touchdown pass. With that run vaulting them to the AFC’s No. 2 seed and a home date against Baltimore, he has a major chance to embrace Hyde’s message, finish what he began, and bring home that ever-elusive Lombardi Trophy.
And after watching the defense last week, we can assume they also took Hyde’s word to heart.
Can we talk about this Bills defense today?
AFTER the first drive……they gave up
0 points
1(!) 3rd down conversion (8 attempts)
82 yards passing from Bo Nix
25 yards rushing from running backs pic.twitter.com/TT6fytKPLa— Bills Chat Podcast (@BillsChatPod) January 13, 2025
The Bills’ defense beat up on the Denver Broncos last Sunday. They gave up an opening drive touchdown pass to Bo Nix, causing fans and troll-tweeters alike to smash the panic button on Bobby Babich’s defense. It’s that same old baggage. But the defense responded by spending the rest of the game asking Nix Who the hell do you think you are?, allowing zero points the rest of the way. After facing numerous question marks — particularly in Weeks 14 and 15, when they gave up a combined 86 points — the unit has rebounded, giving up just 56 points in the four games since then, which includes last Sunday.
Someone tell them to be more pissed off next week https://t.co/Uzx27q9kRq
— m (@cfcmmb) January 13, 2025
But finishing what Buffalo started won’t be easy, as Baltimore has PFF’s highest-graded offense from 2024. Jackson has been otherworldly, Derrick Henry is still the guy that stiffed-armed Josh Norman into the Atlantic Ocean, and while Zay Flowers’ status for Sunday is very much in doubt, Rashod Bateman isn’t someone the Bills can sleep on.
Leading the charge are leaders like Allen and Hyde, but also Sean McDermott, who has led the Bills to the playoffs in all but one of his seasons as Bills head coach. He knows what’s at stake.
“I bleed for that,” McDermott said. “I bleed for that win, and that’s real. What I want for people, for these fans, is for the true light to be shown on what this place really is.”
To get that win, all three phases of Buffalo’s team must internalize the message from their longtime safety, finish what they started, and play with an unending motor from snap to whistle. Everything is on the line, and getting to their goal will require everything from everyone on the roster. Let’s go.
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