▶ Watch Video: Lake-effect snowstorm leaves at least 2 dead in western New York
Buffalo Bills fans in New York rallied Saturday to shovel out players, amid a dangerous lake-effect snowstorm, in an effort to get them to the airport in time to travel to Detroit for their game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
The storm, which has pummeled the region since Thursday, has dropped more than six feet of snow in some areas. According to the National Weather Service, the suburb of Orchard Park, home to the Bills, had reported 77 inches of snow by early Saturday. At least three deaths have been attributed to the storm.
Ahead of its arrival, the NFL announced Thursday that it was moving Sunday’s game — originally slated to take place at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park — to Detroit’s Ford Field, “out of an abundance of caution.”
Photos and videos posted to social media showed the “Bills Mafia” — the nickname given to the team’s loyal fanbase — grabbing their shovels and getting to work Saturday.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Bills tight end Dawson Knox said in a video he shared on Twitter, which showed him surrounded by his neighbors after they had just finished shoveling out a path for him outside his home.
In a video posted to Instagram, Bills backup quarterback Case Keenum gave a “huge shout out” to neighbors who used snowblowers to clear his driveway.
Bills fullback Reggie Gilliam posted a photo of his neighbors digging out his driveway with the caption, “Mafia, you never fail to amaze me!”
Bills tight end Quintin Morris tweeted, “To whoever cleared my driveway goat! #BillsMafia something special.”
Neighbors also used their snowblowers to help clear the driveway of Bills offensive tackle Spencer Brown.
“City of good neighbors,” Brown wrote in a video he posted to Instagram.
Kickoff for Sunday’s game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern.
