Bills-Browns Moved to Detroit
NFL Week 11 - The Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills game this Sunday has been moved to Detroit due to excessive snowfall in the Lake Erie region. Up to three feet of snow are predicted to fall through Saturday, with more on Sunday. The Bills will now play two straight games in Detroit, since they were already scheduled to play the Lions on Thanksgiving.
It is a little weird that snow and wind are supposed to be Buffalo's home-field advantage, but here they are moving a game to another city indoors. Maybe they need to think about building an indoor stadium for Buffalo fans!
Comments
19 comments, Last at 19 Nov 2022, 3:30pm
#1 by Joey-Harringto… // Nov 17, 2022 - 4:35pm
Will actually be the 2nd time the Bills played a "home" game at Ford Field due to weather conditions in Buffalo:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201411240buf.htm
And also the 3rd time Ford Field will be the "home" stadium for a non-Lions NFL team (Vikings metrodome roof collapse in 2010).
#2 by herewegobrowni… // Nov 17, 2022 - 4:40pm
Incidentally, a lot of people thought that severe weather would be the Browns' only real shot because it would work to their run game strength.
Not sure if you are part-joking, but an indoor stadium wouldn't solve anything for BUF this weekend because the metro can't divert snowplow, EMS, etc resources away from elsewhere for a game, and there is literally not enough room for all the snow even if it stops Saturday (kind of like the NYJ/BUF game 8 years ago.)
#5 by speaker42 // Nov 18, 2022 - 9:21am
I get that this is a major outlier weather event and the move is necessary, but I can't help but be disappointed that two cold-weather teams, with outdoor stadiums, from regions known for getting snowfall during football season, are going to play each other in a dome. Football games in the snow are the best.
#13 by IlluminatusUIUC // Nov 18, 2022 - 2:41pm
It's not an outlier event, Buffalo is an outlier city. A snowstorm dumping literal feet on the city happens a few times a decade, this one just happened to land on a home game weekend followed by a short-week so they couldn't delay the game. If Buffalo was scheduled for a game on 11/26, they'd have just pushed the game to Monday.
#17 by SandyRiver // Nov 19, 2022 - 9:05am
While the above is all true (expect possibly the last sentence), the total snowfall in Orchard Park is up to 66". THAT is an outlier and will take more than one day to untangle. The Bills were having problems just getting out of town due to closed airports and interstates.
#11 by RickD // Nov 18, 2022 - 2:27pm
The NFL could install snow machines at Ford Field so we could get the outdoor experience. They'd have to leave the doors open so temperatures were amenable.
Wouldn't have to worry about snowplows!
(Yes, this is one of the dumbest ideas, ever.)
#6 by theslothook // Nov 18, 2022 - 10:44am
I am genuinely fascinated by the line changes.
The flip to neutral field meant that homefield was worth 2 points, going from 9.5 to 7.5 and the over under went from 43 to 48.5.
Finally, we have some evidence of whether effects on scoring expectations.
#14 by Mike B. In Va // Nov 18, 2022 - 3:59pm
I've been in one of these storms - I went to visit a friend in Buffalo in the early '80s (81?) and was stuck there for a week, since prediction wasn't quite as good as it is now. We had a 6+ snowdrift against his front door, and we got out to dig it out by using second story windows. I grew up not far away (Canandaigua), and I was still stunned at how bad it was and how fast it got that way. People from where I live now (DC) would think it's the Arctic.