Tracking the Buffalo Bills’ journey from Orchard Park to Detroit

Update, 6:19 p.m. EST: The Buffalo Bills have officially landed in Detroit. The first leg of their travel nightmare now concluded, the Bills will kick off their Week 11 matchup with the Cleveland Browns at 1:00 p.m. EST tomorrow from Ford Field.

Update, 3:59 p.m. EST: Multiple outlets are reporting that the Bills are now boarding their flight to Detroit, and are scheduled to arrive in Michigan later this afternoon. It was a full-day effort for the team to achieve this otherwise simple feat, as chronicled below. We’ll have one more update once the team lands safely.

Update, 3:16 p.m. EST: The Buffalo Bills are officially headed to the airport for their flight to Detroit, per Kevin Hayes of Spectrum News.

Update, 1:55 p.m. EST: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that all Buffalo Bills players have made it to the team’s training facilities at One Bills Drive, and are still on schedule to make their flight to Detroit a bit later on this afternoon.

Update, 11:43 a.m. EST: Andy Young of Spectrum News reports that the Bills are receiving help from Orchard Park Police and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office in getting to the airport in time for their flight to Detroit.

Update, 11:19 a.m. EST: Buffalo Bills EVP/COO Ron Raccuia is among members of the organization driving around the Orchard Park area this morning, picking up Bills players and ferrying them to the airport for their flight to Detroit, per Tim Graham of The Athletic.

That flight, according to Abby Fridmann of WIVB-TV in Buffalo, is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EST.

Update, 9:43 a.m. EST: The Buffalo Airport announced that runways have been cleared and re-opened. That just leaves the hurdle of actually getting the team to the airport for their flight.

Original story: The Buffalo Bills have trudged their way through massive snow piles to escape to Detroit for a pro football game before, and they’ll attempt to do so again today (Saturday) in advance of tomorrow’s “home” game against the Cleveland Browns at Ford Field.

It won’t be easy. On Friday morning, the Buffalo Airport announced that runways were temporarily closed due to snow, and a travel ban has been issued in the City of Buffalo, to add to pre-existing bans in surrounding areas.

Orchard Park, NY was subjected to a New York State record snowfall in a 24-hour period ranging from Thursday through Friday evening, with 66 inches of snow falling in that time frame.

The Bills have two obvious objectives today, both of which will be adventurous to achieve:

• Make it to the airport
• Fly to Detroit

So long as the airport is able to clear off runways in a timely fashion—and that’s still a big “if,” considering the snow is not expected to stop falling until Sunday—that is the easier of the two hurdles. Arriving at the airport might be slightly trickier.

Former Bills center and current radio color analyst Eric Wood, who was part of the 2014 Bills team that had a regular-season game against the New York Jets for this same reason, reminded fans on Saturday morning that it was enterprising locals with snowmobiles who helped the team make it to the airport for their flight to Ford Field.

That confidence that Buffalo will find a way to make it out to Detroit may not be matched by all. Should any further complications arise, it’s possible that the Bills will face a just-in-the-nick-of-time arrival situation—or, perhaps, the NFL will need to consider modifying the start time of the game.

We’ll keep this post updated throughout the day today as the Bills’ travel journey continues.