ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — By the time the Bills picked up a turnover on downs, Sunday's 43-21 victory already felt like it was in the bag. The same goes for Miami's turnover on downs a week ago.
But when Matt Milano dropped Taylor Heinicke in the backfield at Highmark Stadium, the impact of that play wasn't lost on the defense.
"Huge play. We were able to do that in back to back games. Fourth down stops give the offense some great field position," Hyde said. "Anytime we can do that and put our offense in great field position is ideal for us."
Buffalo was never even in a position to have to play the field position game. Back to back takeaways helped the Bills build a lead that they'd never relinquish. Leslie Frazier's unit forced more turnovers against Washington than it had in the two prior weeks combined.
"Obviously in Week 1 [against Pittsburgh], we didn't take the ball away enough," Bills safety Jordan Poyer said. "We just want to continue the momentum... Anytime you go out there on defense, you want to have an opportunity to take the football away."
Poyer and Hyde each had an interception. The two veterans make up one of the NFL's best safety tandems; and both of them played like it on Sunday. In the early goings of the contest, another member of the secondary, cornerback Tre'Davious White, forced a fumble on Washington's side of the field.
"You have to stay true to what you're doing. We preach all the time: takeaways, takeaways. We do it in practice," Bills safety Micah Hyde said. "Today we had some opportunities. It was a great play by [Tre'Davious White] to get us going."
"That is something that we try and emphasize," head coach Sean McDermott said. "And usually if you emphasize it, you eventually get it. So we gotta continue to do that."
Each week, it seems like the Bills keep playing better and better. But here were some lapses in the second quarter. Washington scored 14 of their 21 points in less than three minutes.
The mentality at One Bills Drive, no matter whether it's the offense, defense, or special teams, is that there's no such thing as "good enough." There's always room to improve. Micah Hyde doesn't want to just set up the offense. He wants the defense to get in on the scoring.
"Hey, we got some takeaways," Hyde said. "Next time, we gotta finish them."
The Bills will stay in Western New York for their next contest. They host the Houston Texans at 1:00 p.m. on October 3rd.
