On any given Sunday, NFL teams are forced to deal with a number of obstacles on their path to victory or defeat. Rarely though, does the prospect of traveling to the stadium qualify as one of those obstacles.
That though, is the exact situation facing the Buffalo Bills right now as they prepare to take on the New York Jets in Detroit on Monday night.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played Sunday afternoon in Buffalo's home venue - Ralph Wilson Stadium - was moved 272 miles east and back 30 hours due to a massive snowstorm that blanketed upstate New York with five to seven feet of snow during the week.
Even worse for many of the Bills players - they have no means to even get out of their homes and to the stadium.
The solution, according to a report from Peter King of MMQB.com?
Snowmobiles.
The Buffalo Bills quite possibly will need snowmobile rescues to get some of their players (85 percent of the 53-man roster live in the towns around Orchard Park, which has been hit with five to seven feet of snow during the week) in position to play Monday night when the Bills will face the Jets.
Buffalo will attempt to fly whatever members of the team they can rescue via snowmobile to Detroit today, sometime around midday, Bills CEO Russ Brandon told King, while adding that he doesn't think "that's realistic."
Not every player will make the team flight to Detroit today and those that don't will take commercial flights later Friday or Saturday. The team will also be forced to cram their normal Thursday and Friday practices into a single practice on Saturday afternoon - after the hometown Lions have finished their own practice and headed off to New England.
A less than ideal situation for the organization of course, but Brandon maintained focus on the bigger picture and said that head coach Doug Marrone won't let the players view the game as anything other than a fair fight.
"Coach won't let it be another way," Brandon said, per King. "When the game kicks off, we are playing for the people of Buffalo. If we can give them three hours of relief, from whatever they are doing, that's great."
