Buffalo Bills fans spent hours before their team’s home playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers by shoveling snow out of the stands in time for kickoff.
Those volunteers did everything they could to clear the stadium for their fellow fans using shovels, gloves, and even at times, their bodies.
Watch some of the winter madness below:
Originally slated for Sunday, a massive snowstorm forced the NFL and local government to deem that playing the game for its originally slated time would have been too dangerous for those in the stands and on the field.
Before game day, a weather report noted that the city of Buffalo was expected to gain approximately 12.75 inches of snow in the next 48 hours with max wind gusts hitting 42 MPH. While people in the community have been told to stay home, people had still been out on the roads — for better or for worse.
In fact, Bills offensive lineman Alec Anderson was out and about on Sunday morning, and was seen helping a pedestrian in a stalled vehicle get out of the snow and ice. Anderson’s teammate, fellow OL Ryan Van Demark, recorded the tail-end of Anderson helping get the sedan unstuck in the middle of the road by attaching a tow strap to the rim of their car.
Anderson, a UCLA alumnus, has come a long way from enjoying beautiful, sunny weather daily in Los Angeles to the bitter, unforgiving cold in Buffalo. Surprisingly, he’s a quick thinker in the cold for a California native.
Weather report details extent of winter storm
“A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties from 10 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday,” the initial report stated, via On3’s Nick Kosko. “Per the NWS-Buffalo office: Heavy lake effect snow and very strong winds expected. Total snow accumulations of 1 to 3 feet in the most persistent lake snows. Blizzard conditions will be possible at times, especially Saturday night and Sunday. 8 to 17 inches of snow for the S. Tier counties under the warning.”
Those numbers ended up coming to fruition, which prompted an overnight effort to keep the field clear of the massive blanket of snow that continued to fall. Once the day began, volunteers were out and about to make room for the fans come game time.
Now, the Bills fans are using the excess snow that still pads the stands for celebratory purposes. They threw snow in the air after the Bills scored on their opening drive via a pass from Josh Allen to tight end Dawson Knox.
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