Snowy setback: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills NFL playoff matchup ‘very much in play’ for another postponement

The AFC wild-card game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills was already postponed once due to dangerous winter conditions in Orchard Park, N.Y. But now, it’s possible the game could be postponed again.

Sources have told The Athletic that a decision to shift the Steelers-Buffalo Bills game from Monday to Tuesday is “still very much in play,” given the large volume of lake-effect snow being dumped on the area Sunday into Monday.

At the direction of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who declared a state of emergency in western New York, the NFL originally moved the game from Sunday at 1 p.m. ET to its current time Monday at 4 p.m. ET.

But now there’s growing speculation that Monday won’t allow for enough time to remove the snow.

According to the National Weather Service, a band of snow off Lake Erie on Sunday was expected to the strike Buffalo’s southtown area, where Orchard Park is located.

Leading up to the original game time Sunday, heavy snow and gusty winds in Erie County were causing a white-out effect that would have made for extremely treacherous driving to the stadium and limited visibility on the football field, which could have accumulated an additional three to six inches of snow.

Snow removal is an issue for Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills game

By Monday, the snow storm is expected to decrease in intensity. The forecast calls snow showers and a high temperature of around 19 degrees, but another two feet of snow could have fallen on the Orchard Park area, making snow removal efforts at Highmark Stadium difficult to complete by late afternoon.

The Steelers are scheduled to travel to Orchard Park on Sunday and could opt to drive instead of fly, although they might find the roads near western New York difficult to navigate, as a pair of Buffalo Bills offensive linemen experienced.

For now, the Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills game will be Monday’s first game of an NFL playoff doubleheader, which includes the Philadelphia Eagles-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in much warmer conditions at 8:15 p.m. ET.