By JOHN WAWROW, AP Sports Author
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Mother Nature is forcing the Buffalo Bills to shuffle off to the Motor City.
The NFL decided Thursday to shift the Bills’ home game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday to Detroit’s Ford Field due to travel and safety concerns stemming from a lake-effect snowstorm set to hit the Buffalo region.
The move to relocate the sport got here before the storm even began. The forecast calls for 1 to three feet of snow to fall through the weekend. The switch in sites means the Bills will play back-to-back games in Detroit, one because the home team after which as visitors once they face the Lions on Thanksgiving.
To keep up continuity, Bills general manager Brandon Beane said the team has chosen to make use of the visitors’ locker room, sideline and training booths for each trips.
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“It’s the house team’s alternative, really, and we’re the house team,” Beane said during a Zoom call. “The one thing we would like from the home-team standpoint this week is the fans.”
Beane then cracked a joke when asked concerning the price of tickets, which is able to go on sale Friday.
“They’re much inexpensive,” he said, before adding with fun, “unless you’re a Cleveland Browns fan.”
The Bills (6-3) have lost two straight and can now play 10 “road” games — as a substitute of nine — within the second 12 months of the NFL’s 17-game schedule. The Browns (3-6) have lost 4 of 5.
Two teams that share a wintry climate and a Lake Erie shoreline will as a substitute play indoors after the NFL — with input from the Bills and Latest York state officials — was left with little alternative but to shift the sport.
The National Weather Service issued a lake-effect storm warning lasting through Saturday morning for southern Erie County, which incorporates the Bills’ home in Orchard Park. The storm is projected to bring wind gusts off Lake Erie as high as 35 mph, which might make travel conditions hazardous and result in potential power outages.
Though Sunday’s forecast calls for light snow and gusting winds — playable conditions — the Bills and safety officials made clear to the NFL they didn’t wish to draw resources away from what’s expected to be a serious cleanup effort.
“At the top of the day, the protection of this community comes first, not playing a football game,” said Ron Raccuia, executive vp of the Bills’ parent company, Pegula Sports and Entertainment.
This isn’t the primary time weather has forced the Bills to relocate to Detroit.
One other snowstorm led to them making an identical trip to Ford Field in November 2014, when the Bills defeated the Latest York Jets 38-3. That game was also pushed back a day to accommodate travel for each teams. The Bills arranged for snowmobiles to choose up some players who were unable to dig their cars out of the snow so as to get them to the airport.
This time, the NFL couldn’t keep off the date of the sport because Buffalo is already facing a brief week.
The Bills plan to make the 45-minute flight to Detroit on Saturday, as they might on a standard trip, and return home immediately after the sport.
The Browns also plan to travel on Saturday, and ready for the potential for a venue switch by putting together two offensive game plans: one outdoor, one indoor.
“We shall be ready for each,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. “That’s one thing that COVID years have done for us, we’re very flexible and used to adapting and adjusting to any circumstances that come up.”
With the potential for taking part in in wind and blowing snow, Cleveland was set to depend on its running game with Nick Chubb getting enough carries to even satisfy those Browns fans who criticize coach Kevin Stefanski for not giving the ball to his star back on every play.
Now, a game inside Detroit’s warm and comfy dome will allow the Browns to make use of their complete playbook.
Trouble is, so will the Bills. Led by quarterback Josh Allen, Buffalo has a definite advantage over a Cleveland defense that hasn’t delivered all season.
Beane said the Bills were planning to play at home, and even practiced outdoors on Thursday, until the choice was made to maneuver the sport. He said the change in location shouldn’t affect the sport plan.
Players on each teams were looking forward to competing within the wintry elements.
“I might like it,” Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio said. “But obviously people’s safety and the town of Buffalo. But it surely can be great. I grew up in California and didn’t see snow much. I used to be in college at Nevada, which gets snow.”
The Bills last played through a lake-effect storm in December 2017, once they defeated the Indianapolis Colts 13-7 in extra time in a game played in near white-out conditions. The storm didn’t hit until about an hour before kickoff.
“It was surreal. You are available in the tunnel the grass is green, if you come back out it’s two feet of snow,” Bills safety Jordan Poyer said. “It was probably probably the most fun games I ever played in.”
AP Sports Author Tom Withers contributed to this report from Berea, Ohio.
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