The Buffalo Bills (4-9) welcome the Detroit Lions (5-8) to New Era Field for a 1 p.m. Eastern clash on Sunday.
As you would expect for a match-up featuring two teams that are squarely on the outside looking in for a playoff berth (Buffalo has been eliminated while Detroit has the faintest of hopes), FOX’s telecast of the Bills and Lions will once again be relegated to fans living in the Buffalo and Detroit primary and secondary television markets.
The No. 7 broadcasting team of Joe Davis (play-by-play), Brady Quinn (analyst), and Megan Olivi (sideline reporter) will handle the Bills/Lions clash.
The areas that can see the game are highlighted in orange (map courtesy of 506sports):
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Even the state of New York is divided for Week 15, as the Binghamton, Syracuse, Utica and Watertown markets—cities that normally carry Bills games—switched over to broadcast the Dallas Cowboys/Indianapolis Colts showdown (in red) instead.
That game is FOX’s featured national early game. The rest of the country will see either the Green Bay Packers/Chicago Bears (in blue), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Baltimore Ravens (yellow), or the Arizona Cardinals/Atlanta Falcons (teal).
Sunday’s meeting will be the 11th all-time between Buffalo and Detroit, with the Bills holding onto a 5-4-1 lead in the series. The last time Buffalo hosted Detroit, the Bills started the 2010 campaign 0-8 before holding off the Lions for a 14-12 win on Nov. 14, 2010. Fred Jackson rushed for a touchdown and hauled in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick as the Bills took a 14-3 lead.
The Lions closed within 14-12 on a Shaun Hill touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson late in the fourth quarter, but the ensuing two-point conversion pass sailed out of the end zone and Buffalo held on for its first win of the year.
The last time these two teams played, the Lions raced out to a 14-0 lead on Oct. 5, 2014. Dan Carpenter booted two field goals and Kyle Orton tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to Chris Gragg (Jackson converted the two-point conversion) as Buffalo pulled even at 14. With four seconds remaining, Carpenter drilled a 58-yard field goal to seal the win for the Bills.