The Buffalo Bills' offense huddles during a game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Before the Buffalo Bills take on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, they have another formidable battle — finding a way out of their blizzard-struck city.
The NFL announced on Thursday that the game originally scheduled for Sunday at Highmark Stadium in snowy Orchard Park would be moved to Detroit as the Buffalo region was crippled by heavy snow. A storm coming off Lake Erie dumped historic amounts of snow, with the Bills’ stadium in the epicenter.
Bills tight end Quintin Morris revealed a struggle for the team as they made it to their scheduled flight on Saturday afternoon.
Bills Work to Leave Crippled Region
The Bills announced that they planned to fly to Detroit on Saturday, when the worst of the storm had moved north toward Niagara Falls. This plan ran into some pushback from fans who worried that they might end up stuck in Buffalo, a sentiment shared by Morris.
“I’m very interested to see how we getting to Detroit,” Morris tweeted on Friday, adding a laugh-crying emoji.
Morris revealed on Saturday that he got some help from a friendly neighbor who cleared out his driveway for him, but other Bills players were still concerned about getting out of their homes and to the airport for departure.
To whoever cleared my driveway goat! #BillsMafia something special ❤️
Bills safety Damar Hamlin tweeted a short video of the snow in his front yard, jokingly asking whether anyone had a snowmobile he could use.
Who got a snow mobile in Buffalo? 🏎
The team is also pitching in to make sure players are able to get out of their homes, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on November 19.
“With snow stopped in Western NY (for now), the #Bills are working on getting players out of their homes and to the airport. The plane to Detroit is scheduled for this afternoon. And the hope is it goes off,” he tweeted.
Bills Making Most of Unusual Circumstances
The winter storm has brought other setbacks to the Bills this week, forcing the cancelation of Friday’s practice as Erie County was declared a state of emergency and a ban was placed on non-essential travel.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on Friday that he wasn’t exactly sure how the team was going to leave on Saturday, but added that the team was working to make sure all players were safe and sound.
“That’s obviously TBD at this point. We want to head out tomorrow as close to the normal time as possible,” McDermott said, via a report from The Associated Press. “However, seeing what’s happening around us right now, just want to make sure that all the staff and players’ families are safe and dug out before we try to get out of here.”
❄️ne Bills Drive.
McDermott added that the blizzard could become a bonding experience for the team.
“I think it has a chance to bring your team closer together,” he said. “I think there’s some good to it when guys pull together and rally for a cause here.”
With more than two feet of snow having fallen in Highmark Stadium, the Bills’ offense could also get a reprieve as they now move under the dome at Ford Field in Detroit.