![]() “I think for us operating, yes, because we had to do it so much the first two years," defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. The Browns' experience with the Raiders game last season served as a learning tool for the coaching staff in terms of flexibility. So the next move, if the game couldn't be played Sunday in Buffalo, was to do as the NFL had done with a 2014 Bills home game against the Jets, which was to move it to Detroit. The fact the Bills are playing at Detroit against the Lions on Thanksgiving made it impossible to change the game date, as happened last year to the Browns when a COVID outbreak forced their December game against the Las Vegas Raiders to shift from Saturday to Tuesday. Both teams were off the field by the time the league made the change official shortly after 4 p.m. A league spokesman said in a Thursday morning email to the Beacon Journal the league was monitoring the weather and staying in contact with the teams.īoth teams practiced outdoors on Thursday. The NFL and the two teams decided to not risk the worst and settle for what was best to get the game played. We just have to expect the worst, and if it better than the worst, then good.” It is hit or miss wherever the bands are. I have talked to the coaches and talked to the players a little bit this morning, showed some video of what it could be like. "If you are in the bands, it is whiteout conditions. “You can’t really describe it until you are in it," Van Pelt said. He spent 16 years with the Bills organization as either a player, a broadcaster or a coach. Van Pelt may have had as good an understanding as any about what's heading Buffalo's way. While there was a bit of difference between what was expected to fall on downtown Buffalo and Orchard Park, which is 15 miles south of there and where Highmark Stadium is located, the conditions were still expected to be hazardous. The forecast for the Greater Buffalo area was for multiple feet of snow between now and Sunday's kickoff. That experience is going to work in the Browns' favor this week, as the NFL announced late Thursday afternoon the game was moving from the winter wonderland in Western New York to the climate-controlled environment in Motown. That is one thing that COVID years have done for us, we are very flexible and used to adapting and adjusting to any circumstances that come up.”Ĭleveland area weather forecast: Snowstorm brings heavy snowfall along Lake Erie, Greater Akron spared so far If the band stays south or north and it is not a bad day, then good. "Obviously, we have a plan for good weather. “We have contingency plans for both," Van Pelt said prior to Thursday's practice. The other was the chance to play in perfect conditions indoors at Detroit's Ford Field. One was a game played in the midst of a snowstorm at the Bills' Highmark Stadium. As Van Pelt and the Browns took to the practice field, there were two very different realities for Sunday. Instead, it was about the uncertainty that surrounded the game's location due to the massive snowstorm heading toward the Greater Buffalo area. That had nothing to do with the Bills defense. ![]() BEREA - What Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt saw in Buffalo was creating quite a quandary. ![]()
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