Western New York temperatures are expected to dip to 37 degrees on Wednesday night, peaking no higher than 48 as its Buffalo Bills prepare for a crucial interconference showdown on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).
Nyheim Hines used to detest the cold Wednesday practices upon his introduction to Bills football last season. Now, he'd give anything to layer up and take the field.
“I’ll never take a Wednesday practice for granted again,” Hines said in a profile by Zak Keefer of The Athletic. "I never took football for granted, truly, but after this, I know what this game means to me. I’d do anything to be back right now.”
"This" is Hines' continued rehab from a jet ski accident that ended in a devastating injury that will keep him out of the Bills' ongoing season. Hines embarked on an emotional account of the incident to Keefer, detailing that he had no intentions of taking off a jet ski on that July afternoon while celebrating a holiday weekend wih friends in North Carolina. Two days before Independence Day, he had simply made a short trip to refuel the Sea-Doo when fate intervened.
“You know what I tell people?” I literally tell people my life is like that movie ‘Final Destination,'" Hines said, referencing the horror film franchise where characters fall victim to increasingly convoluted demises said to be orchestrated by death itself. "Honestly, there were times I just wanted to scream and cry. It was just rehab, man, but it was hard as hell.”
The running back has since filed legal action but refrained from divulging details of the case as litigation commences.
Hines is one of the newer Bills, having come over in a trade deadline deal with the Indianapolis Colts last November. He has already become a bit of a cult hero in Bills lore for scoring a touchdown on the opening kickoff of the first Buffalo game after Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest episode. In that same game, Hines became the 11th player in NFL history (and first Bill) to earn two six-point kickoff returns in the same game, a 35-23 win over New England.
Devastated over the loss of his season, Hines was also concerned about the optics of enduring an injury during a supposedly reckless activity. It even led to a financial dispute with the Bills but the two sides have since come to terms on a settlement and Hines expressed his excitement for continued Western New York endeavors.
“We were both upset, both parties were upset,” Hines recalled. “I didn’t expect for that to happen. They didn’t expect for this to happen. We both had big plans for myself and they know I hold myself accountable, and they knew that this is gonna kill me more than it kills them.”
“They treated me right at the end of the day and they took care of it and I’m a member of the Buffalo Bills and I look forward to coming back there next year and earning the right to win.”
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