NFL Announces Change To Bills-Browns; What It Means For Bettors
The Bills and Browns will now play in Detroit
There won’t be any home-field advantage for the Buffalo Bills come Sunday.
With a potentially historic snowstorm expected to blanket the Buffalo area with several feet of snow this weekend, the NFL stepped in Thursday and moved the Bills’ game against the Cleveland Browns to Ford Field in Detroit. The Lions are on the road against the New York Giants in Week 11 leaving their home stadium available. The Bills and Browns will still kick off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
The NFL in a press release stated the change in venue came “due to public safety concerns and out of an abundance of caution in light of the ongoing weather emergency in western New York.”
The Bills, who have lost two straight games including a heartbreaking overtime defeat to the Minnesota Vikings, really should benefit from playing inside a domed stadium and not having to try to get their passing attack going in the elements. The Browns offense on the other hand was more conducive to playing in the snow, with a rushing attack ranked fifth in the NFL while averaging 158.8 yards per game.
This isn’t an unprecedented call by the NFL to move a game out of Buffalo due to weather. The league also moved a game out of Orchard Park in 2014 between the Bills and New York Jets to Detroit as well.
From a betting standpoint, the change in locations impacted the game’s total noticeably. While the total opened up at over/under 47 points, the reports of the weather caused it to drop to as low as 41.5 in some places. The league’s announcement Thursday evening immediately caused it to jump back to over/under 48.5, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
The line for the game remained the same on DraftKings, with the Bills still being favored by 8.5 points.
