Bills-Jets game expected to move
— -- The Bills' home game against the Jets is not expected to be played Sunday afternoon, sources tell ESPN, as another storm Thursday brought the Buffalo area's paralyzing three-day snowfall total to six feet or more.
The Bills "will be hard-pressed to get their stadium ready for their next home game," a source told ESPN. That next home game is Nov. 30, against the Browns.
The question now is when and where Sunday's game will be played. The NFL will conduct a conference call with Bills and Jets officials Thursday afternoon to figure it out.
"Public safety is the first priority," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Thursday. "We have been in discussions regarding potential alternatives. We will provide an update later today."
Possible locations, according to sources, include Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. The Lions and Redskins are on the road this weekend; the Steelers have a bye. It's 215 miles from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, 256 miles from Buffalo to Detroit and 389 miles from Buffalo to FedEx Field in Washington.
Coaches for the teams are preparing with the belief the game will be moved to Monday evening in one of those three cities. The Bills have been unable to practice for the past two days and will have to leave Buffalo to do so.
The NFL has until Friday to make a decision about the game. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that playing the game in Buffalo would be "impractical."
"It's called inconvenience," Jets linebacker Calvin Pace said. "That's the word I would say. But, I mean, you can't do anything about Mother Nature."
Paced added: "My hope is [the Bills] find a way to practice so we can play on Sunday ... We can play at the Carrier Dome, [we can] play in Detroit like they did when the bubble fell in Minnesota. We can find a solution. Let's just play on Sunday."
The Jets' next game is Monday night, so they'd have a full week of rest if they play the Bills on Monday night.
"It wouldn't affect us," Jets coach Rex Ryan said on the possibility of switching sites. "We'd just aim our plane in a different direction, I guess."
There is an estimated four feet of snow in Orchard Park at the stadium, and another two feet of snow is forecast.
Bills officials said Wednesday that it takes about three days to remove one foot of snow from the stadium and surrounding areas. At the rate the snow is falling, that cleanup would take 18 days.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only teams in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to play consecutive games on Mondays are the 2010 Vikings in Weeks 14 and 15 and the 1996 Raiders in Weeks 8 and 10 (they a bye in Week 9). If Sunday's Jets-Bills game is rescheduled to Monday, the Jets would become the third team to play consecutive Mondays, although Elias will recognize only the scheduled Ravens-Saints game as the "official" Monday night game.
ESPN.com's Rich Cimini contributed to this report.