The Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills game could have more reschedules than just today’s news. On the heels of their Wild Card game postponed from Sunday to Monday at 4:30 PM/EST, The Athletic’s Tim Graham reports via two sources it’s possible the game gets pushed back again to Tuesday.
Graham tweeted the news a short time ago.
“Two of my sources say Tuesday still very much in play for the Steelers at Bills playoff game.”
His attached article from The Athletic doesn’t (currently) contain any information about a Tuesday matchup, making his tweet the only information at the news.
While the worst of the weather is expected to roll in tonight and tomorrow, potential “whiteout” conditions that made travelling to the game unsafe, don’t put on the bathing suit for Monday. According to the latest forecast, temperatures are expected to be in the high-teens/low-twenties with winds 15-25 miles per hour and between 1-3 inches of snow. Better conditions than Sunday but the region will still be shoveling out of Sunday’s precipitation that might make playing Monday difficult logistically.
The NFL’s postponement wasn’t due to field conditions. The chief reason for the move was the general public’s safety along with the travel ban imposed on the area beginning at 9 PM/EST Saturday night. It’s not clear when that ban will be lifted.
For Pittsburgh, a second rescheduling wouldn’t be new to them. In 2020, their Thanksgiving night contest against the Baltimore Ravens was pushed back twice due to a COVID outbreak in the Ravens’ locker room. First, the game was shifted to Monday before being pushed back again to Wednesday afternoon, making for only the second mid-week game since 1950.
If the NFL pushes the game back again, it’ll create an issue for the winner. They’ll now face an ultra-short week for the Divisional Round. Should Pittsburgh pull off the upset, they’ll travel to Baltimore the following weekend. From a scheduling perspective, it’s possible the league would make that game a Monday contest to allow the Bills-Steelers winner an extra day. The NFL hasn’t played a Divisional Round game on a Monday since 1977 (Christmas was held on Sunday that year, pushing the NFC games to Monday), usually breaking up the four remaining contests into two on Saturday and Sunday, but given the circumstances, they’d probably make an exception.
Stay tuned.
