A Bills flag flies in the wind and snow in Orchard Park, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.

 Mark Mulville

Β Jordan Poyer and Rachel Bush had a bit over 6 feet of snow at their Orchard Park home by this morning.

Nothing unusual there. The Southtowns suburb – which also happens to be where Poyer's job is located – led all of Western New York, with 77 inches of snow.

But Poyer, a safety with the Buffalo Bills, had somewhere to go. With the the team's Sunday home game against the Cleveland Browns moved to Detroit, the Bills' players, coaches and executives need to gather in Cheektowaga this afternoon for a chartered flight to Michigan. Takeoff shouldn't be a problem – the runway and skies are clear enough – but actuallyΒ gettingΒ to the airport is a challenge for Poyer and many of his teammates who live in the areas hardest-hit with snow over the last two days.

"We're completely buried here," said Bush, who is Poyer's wife, in a text to The News early Saturday afternoon. "We just finished shoveling out both cars."

Poyer, Bush and their daughter live in Florida during the off-season, and it turns out he is short on snow gear. "Jordan doesn't even own snow boots," Bush said, "so he was out there in slippers and shorts."

But not alone. For the Poyer-Bush family and many other Bills households, getting players dug out of their homes has been a team effort. Poyer and Bush were aided by neighbors and a concrete business "with their machines and plows to get us out," she said.

Bush added in the text message, "I think the team offered cars if the guys needed it, but luckily we did have some good help here waiting to go for us!! So kind!"

Ron Raccuia, the Bills' chief operating officer and executive vice president, said of efforts to get the players out and on their way to Detroit: β€œWe’re working on that now. Everyone is engaged and it’s a total team/organizational effort.

Social media posts showed fans using snowblowers and shovels to help dig players out so they could reach the team plane, which was scheduled to take off Saturday afternoon. Other players were coming to grips with the storm's impact in the snowbound Southtowns.

Retired Bills center Eric Wood predicted fans would rally to the cause, based on what happened in 2014 when another Bills game was moved to Detroit. He recalled players getting picked up on snowmobiles by "random strangers."

"They’ll do what’s necessary to get to Detroit today," Wood wrote. "I can guarantee you that."

That's what was happening at Spencer Brown's house, a day after he tweeted he didn't own a shovel and was going to put his trash can lid to work.

Reggie Gilliam was in awe of the fans' dedication.

"Mafia, you never fail to amaze me!" he said, posting an image of fans with shovels and snowblowers at work in his driveway.

Center Mitch Morse was able to exit his driveway, thanks to his "giant truck."

The Buffalo Niagara International Airport reopened its runways on Saturday morning, and the private terminal the Bills use for team flights is also ready for use, said Helen Tederous, a spokeswoman for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, in an interview on CNN, said there was "an incredible effort underway from all the fans and the team to make sure they can get on a plane this afternoon or early this evening."

"We fully anticipate they will be there for 1 o'clock kickoff tomorrow and heading off to a great victory," Hochul said.

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Matt Glynn

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