Browns-Bills game could be delayed Sunday if snow affects Buffalo's travel

It appears there are options if the Buffalo Bills can't travel on Saturday afternoon, as planned, for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns. 

NFL insider Josina Anderson reported earlier on Friday there were concerns the snowstorm that forced the league to relocate Sunday's 1 p.m. ET clash between 3-6 Cleveland and 6-3 Buffalo to Detroit could keep the Bills in western New York through at least Saturday evening. 

"I don't know what's the contingency if everyone can't make it to the airport or we can't fly out," an NFL source told Anderson at that time. 

On Friday afternoon, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio explained that the Bills theoretically could fly to Detroit on Sunday if necessary for a game shifted to the late afternoon or prime-time window. Back in 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Buffalo on Sunday morning for a contest held later that evening. The Steelers also had to make a same-day trip in the fall of 2012 because of complications related to Hurricane Sandy. 

There's no indication the NFL will consider postponing the Cleveland-Buffalo game to the midweek, likely because the Bills are scheduled to play at the Detroit Lions in front of a national television audience on Thanksgiving afternoon. Florio added in his piece that the Chicago Bears played on Sunday night and then again on Thanksgiving during the 2018 season. 

Per Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN, Bills head coach Sean McDermott suggested on Friday that a 1 p.m. ET departure time Saturday may not be realistic for his team. 

"Playing a little bit of a wait-and-see game right now but anticipating having to move some things back in the morning if [the snow] does slow down," McDermott said about the situation. "Which that's the latest we're hearing, is it's supposed to slow down early tomorrow morning around the stadium here and in Orchard Park and whatnot, and then give guys time to dig out, make sure their families are good, and then we'll head into the facility, probably in a moved back schedule, just to allow for that."

The Browns and Bills have already had their bye weeks this season, so punting the game down the schedule is a headache the NFL would prefer to avoid.