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The NFL recently started a new tradition of hosting a Wild Card playoff matchup on Monday night. This postseason, the league will have two Wild Card games on Monday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on January 13 that the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff matchup against the Buffalo Bills will be moved to 4:30 pm ET on January 15 because of expected bad weather. The NFL originally scheduled the Steelers playoff matchup with the Bills for 1 pm ET on January 14.
Despite the game moving for safety concerns, many Steelers fans voiced their displeasure with the matchup’s postponement. In addition to fans, former Steelers All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell was critical of the decision to delay the game.
“The game gettin moved is kinda wack not gonna lie,” Bell posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Snow games are the best games.”
Hochul and the NFL cited safety concerns as the reason for moving the game. The weather forecasts projected up to two feet of snow could fall in the Buffalo region over a 24-hour period beginning the night prior to the game.
AccuWeather forecasts also predicted wind gusts up to 50 mph.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Announces Steelers Playoff Matchup Postponement
Hochul, the NFL and Bills worked together to decide whether to postpone the Steelers playoff matchup. The New York governor broke the news about the game moving to January 15 on her X account.
“I’ve been in communication with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the dangerous condition in Buffalo this weekend,” Hochul tweeted. “In consultation with our emergency response teams, Buffalo Bills leadership, and the NFL, the Bills game will be postponed to 4:30 pm Monday.”
The league and Bills also released a joint statement.
“Due to public safety concerns in light of the ongoing weather emergency in western New York, Sunday’s Steelers-Bills game has been rescheduled to Monday at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by CBS,” the NFL and the Bills announced in a statement. “The decision to move the game to Monday was made in consultation with New York Governor Kathy Hochul in the best interest of public safety, and with the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the region prepares for the storm.”
The Steelers playoff matchup against the Bills will now take place ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 15. The Eagles-Buccaneers matchup will air at 8:15 pm ET.
J.J. Watt Also Comments on Steelers-Bills Postponement
Bell once rushed for 236 yards and 3 touchdowns with 38 carries on a snowy Buffalo afternoon in 2016. That fond memory could be why Bell argued “snow games are the best games.”
But Bell wasn’t the only former All-Pro NFL player questioning the Steelers-Bills postponement. CBS Sports’ and 3-Time Defensive Player of the Year winner J.J. Watt appeared to second guess the decision on X.
“Wasn’t the argument for Buffalo’s new stadium not having a roof that football is supposed to be played in the elements? This is multiple games in recent years that have been rescheduled due to weather,” Watt wrote. “Do we want the elements to be a factor or not?”
After receiving responses on X, though, Watt suggested he began to understand that moving the Steelers playoff matchup wasn’t really about avoiding bad elements for the football contest.
“It’s about travel to/from the game … I got it,” tweeted Watt.
However, there’s no guarantee that weather conditions will be good enough for the Steelers and Bills to play on January 15. The Athletic’s Tim Graham reported on X that another postponement to Tuesday is “very much in play.”
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