ORCHARD PARK, NY – A storm system cutting through the nation’s heartland promises to impact nearly every NFL playoff game this weekend, including the matchup of the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Buffalo Bills in the always seemingly snowy town of Orchard Park, New York.
If Sunday’s game is not moved due to safety concerns, the teams will face wind gusts of more than 30 mph and the possibility of heavy snowfall.
Forecast models show between half a foot and a foot of new snow impacting northwestern parts of New York over the weekend.
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The wind gusts across the largely unfrozen water of Lake Erie promise to establish a band of heavy lake effect snow, where miles could mean the difference between near whiteout conditions and just a cold day with temperatures in the teens and 20s.
“The wind may move the ball a little bit,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said after Wednesday’s practice. “Typically, it’s going to be, with weather like this, a game that both teams are going to run the ball, and it’s going to be very possession-limited, so we got to make these possessions count.”
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A similar threat of heavy snowfall in 2022 forced a regular season game between the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills to be moved to Ford Field in Detroit.
The Bills organization has not publicly stated that they are entertaining a change of venue despite being under a Winter Storm Watch.
Despite the wintry weather, the game is not expected to face the coldest conditions from an arctic blast. Those honors belong to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, where the mercury could be in the single digits at kickoff but feel like it is well below zero.
The Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to take on the Miami Dolphins on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Arrowhead Stadium.
“We got two different opportunities for some crazy weather to happen this wild card weekend. Miami is going to Arrowhead Stadium with five degrees right around kickoff, and that may actually drop a few degrees. This is before the wind chill that is going to be 10 to 20 below,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Zack Green.
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If the Bills win, expect similar weather conversations to happen next week, as Highmark Stadium would be home to a playoff game for either the Chiefs, Texans or Browns.
“We’ve been through a lot of games here where we’ve had to, no pun intended, weather the storm that way, right,” head coach Sean McDermott, stated before a recent practice. “It affects how you play the game, how you manage the game. So, when we have that here, it’s an added dimension to our preparation.”