The Buffalo Bills (10-3) canceled Thursday’s practice and elected to hold meetings virtually amid a major snowfall.
More than two feet of lake-effect snow fell in Orchard Park, N.Y., according to the National Weather Service, changing the Bills’ plans ahead of a highly anticipated matchup — and potential Super Bowl preview — against the Detroit Lions (12-1) on Sunday. The Bills will attempt to return to the field Friday for their final practice of the week, as snow is expected to stop falling in the greater Buffalo area by Thursday evening.
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While weather won’t have an on-field impact Sunday under the dome at Ford Field in Detroit, it alters a day of preparation for Buffalo ahead of its biggest game of the year. Coach Sean McDermott’s team is just a couple of days removed from a 5,000-mile roundtrip trek to southern California following last Sunday’s 44-42 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Sunday’s matchup with the Lions also marks the final leg of a grueling month of games, which included home wins over the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in late November. The Bills will finish the regular season with divisional matchups against the New England Patriots (Dec. 22 and Jan. 5) and the New York Jets (Dec. 29).
How do the Bills adjust?
There are two ways to look at this for the Bills in their preparation for the Lions game. The first is that they’ll likely go the entire week without a fully padded practice, which is wholly uncommon in the NFL. The team decided to conduct a walkthrough only Wednesday, as has been their leaning late in the year the past few seasons to reduce the toll of injuries when everyone has bumps and bruises. That Wednesday usually gets everyone prepared for the Thursday practice, with a lighter day Friday.
If the team goes with business as usual Friday, when the weather is projected to lighten up, the Bills will have a shortened session. Although not a deal breaker, it could inhibit some of the matchup-related parts of their playbook they wanted to get on the same page with.
The other way to look at this is that the Bills are well-versed in weather impacting their plans. Even in 2022, when the team had to move their entire operation for a home game to be played in Detroit against the Cleveland Browns, they were able to power through and win. Snow impacting this time of year is a part of life for the Bills and McDermott, so he’s likely had a full plan in place in the event their practice went interrupted.
The team could always move their Thursday padded practice plans to Friday when they’re expected to meet in person, too, and treat their Thursday virtual session as their usual Friday. Either way, the trend of this storm seems a bit more favorable than some of the others they’ve dealt with over the years. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills beat writer
Required reading
- Defense, game management questions plague Bills as playoffs approach
- Lions-Bills preview: There will be lots of points, but which team has the edge?
(Photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)
