A little over 48 hours before the Buffalo Bills were supposed to kick off a football game in Detroit, Sean McDermott spoke to the media from his home with feet of snow outside.
With practice canceled for that day, McDermott spoke about the uncertainties in the Bills' travel schedule and the unknown conditions players, coaches and staff were facing due to the snow storm
After the news conference, McDermott and his wife received messages from neighbors and friends who were willing to help.
Our neighbor called in a front loader to take the snow out because our plow guy couldn't make it. It was cool talking about, not sure what's going to happen, not sure if we're going to be able to get out, but I got five, six text messages to my wife and myself from my friends saying, 'Hey, whatever you need, we'll do That is very special.
Despite 77 inches of snow in New York, the Bills made it to Detroit and beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23. It took a lot of work from the Bills staff and the Buffalo community.
The game was moved to Detroit so that resources in the area could be prioritized for other purposes, but for the team to get to the game, everyone had to make their way to the facility and then onto team buses. The work was done by the Bills staff. There was more than one person who received a hand from the community.
"Everyone back in Buffalo who helped us get here, how much we appreciate them and are thankful for them." Everyone back in Buffalo who is digging out again, we are thinking of you.
Josh Allen, the quarterback, had people with a tractor dig him out of the snow after the game, as players in the locker room shared their stories. The tight end looked out his window and saw his neighbors shoveling his driveway. Tommy Sweeney was picked up by wide receiver Gabriel Davis.
"They showed up without me asking or saying anything," he said of his neighbours. They were working hard because of my long driveway.
Von Miller and Sam Martin were picked up by the coach.
The big plow came down the road after I went out of my house to pick up Von and Sam. He did a great job clearing the road so we could get out of the development.
The defensive tackle said that the inactive Linebacker got out of his house through a tractor. Jordan Poyer said the whole neighborhood came out to help him shovel. The teammates talked about the videos of Dodson and Singletary making their way down the snow covered streets because their homes were not reachable by vehicle.
A number of staff members came to help players out of their homes. Ron Raccuia, the Bills' executive vice president/chief operating officer, walked to the left tackle's house to make sure he got out okay, with Raccuia and the VP of communications unable to get their car close enough to his home.
Dawkins said he was concerned until he saw Ron and the guys on the street. "I said, 'There's my ride,'" I'm going somewhere.
The team only had one normal day of practice because of the weather and a variety of illnesses. He played 27 defensive snaps despite being sick. He was out of practice on Thursday with a stomach bug.
All the work paid off. Despite a slow start, the Bills broke away in the second half and limited Chubb to 19 rushing yards on 14 attempts, the lowest rushing yards he has had in his career with at least 10 rushing attempts.
Singletary and James Cook both finished with 86 rushing yards. The offense scored on seven straight possessions, with kicker Tyler Bass making all six of his field goal attempts. Bass tied four others for the most such games in NFL history with six field goals.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid, but now a very short week begins, with many players unsure of what their path home would look like. When asked what he expects when they come back,Phillips said he had no idea.
Dawkins said it would be the same as when the team left. If fans didn't help out again, we're going to be shoveling and getting that Shnow to our left and right.
On Thanksgiving, the Bills will travel to Detroit to play the Lions. The team used the visitors side of things at Ford Field in order to get ready for the quick turn around.
"Brandon Beane and the organization did a great job getting us here, getting us in the locker room that we're going to be in on Thursday, so we're able to visualize." We'll learn from this and we'll be ready to play on Thursday.
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