Pittsburgh Steelers plan to fly to Buffalo Sunday for playoff game vs. Bills amid storm

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills won’t play their AFC Wild Card game until Monday at 4:30 p.m. ET but will fly Sunday.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the Steelers will hit a walkthrough and then fly out to Buffalo to prepare for the game. The game was postponed due to an intense winter storm.

But apparently this is nothing new with the Steelers in terms of travel plans and delays.

“The Steelers have a noon walkthrough and plan to fly to Buffalo at 3 p.m. for Monday’s rescheduled wild-card game,” Pelissero wrote on Twitter. “They have experience: In 2020, Pittsburgh had a game delayed 3 times because of a Ravens COVID outbreak and ended up playing on a Wednesday. So, this is nothing.”

NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe was in a hotel in Buffalo and gave the latest on the snow storm. Safe to say, no one’s going anywhere Sunday.

View of Buffalo winter storm looking out window of my hotel lobby. Lake effect snow + heavy wind gusts create whiteout effect.

Visibility on roads very little to none — makes it clear why NY governor & NFL decided to postpone Bills-Steelers game keeping people off roads & safe. pic.twitter.com/0GTBLFircZ

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) January 14, 2024

WKBW’s Michael Schwartz added fuel to the fire, or snow to the area? Anyway. He detailed the amount of snow on the ground and how bad travel would be if the Bills and Steelers played at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Just another day of Buffalo being soft pic.twitter.com/vfsu4WCA8O

— Michael Schwartz (@MSchwartzTV) January 14, 2024

In her speech, New York Governor Kathy Hochul basically used the weather as an excuse to tell the Steelers fans to stay home, and decided to antagonize them even more by saying, “It’s going to be a tough game for you anyhow.”

Buffalo posted that they were looking for people to shovel snow, starting at 10 PM EST on Saturday night. Fans would be shoveling snow throughout the night in sub-freezing temperatures.

“A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties from 10AM Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday,” the initial report stated. “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.”

The Steelers come into Sunday’s wild card game with a 10-7 overall record. Without a doubt their biggest missing piece on Sunday will be star linebacker T.J. Watt. The Steelers’ best defender has been ruled out ahead of the game with a sprained MCL.

Watt suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in the Steelers’ 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens on January 6th. The Buffalo Bills have been one of the hottest teams in the league down the stretch, winning five straight games in order to punch their tickets to the playoffs.