NFL makes a big call on the Bills that will directly influence final home game inside Highmark Stadium
The NFL wasted no time with a huge decision regarding the Bills’ last home game inside Highmark Stadium.
The Buffalo Bills’ Week 18 matchup against the New York Jets has officially been finalized. The game will be one of the ones played on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 4:25 p.m. (ET) on CBS.
The NFL makes a concerted effort to keep as much intrigue as possible in the Week 18 slate of games. Every year, these are listed as “to be determined” (TBD) to give the games with playoff implications the best possible time slots. To build on the drama, the NFL waits until the end of Week 17 to announce when each team will play in Week 18. Some games hold significant meaning, while others don’t impact anything other than draft positioning.
Last season, the Bills lost a meaningless game to the New England Patriots. But in 2023, the Bills took on the Dolphins in Week 18 with plenty of playoff implications on the line. Buffalo secured the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, and Miami fell to the sixth seed in the loss.
For this Week 18 game, neither the Bills nor the Jets are playing for anything, as the Bills have locked in the seventh seed and the Jets have been eliminated.
Buffalo Bills will face the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon
The timing of this game was initially unknown because the NFL sought to maximize the pageantry of the final regular-season games.
Unfortunately, the timing of the contest is having Bills Mafia a little upset, preferring the 1 p.m. (ET) time slot over the later window. It is a bit bizarre to have two teams playing for nothing going in that later window, as the Bills most likely won’t even play a majority of their starters in the matchup.
You have to imagine that the only reason this game received extra attention from the networks is that it’s the final game at Highmark Stadium. Buffalo has long announced it would return the red helmets for the matchup. When it was announced, fans wondered why the team would wait until the final, meaningless game of the season to feature the beautiful helmets.
All of this pageantry doesn’t change what actually matters. Quarterback Josh Allen was injured in the loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, so we have to imagine he’ll take one or two snaps against the Jets before hanging it up to prepare for the playoffs. For the Jets, the only way to benefit from this game is to lose and hope for a better draft position.
At the end of the day, Sunday’s matchup is more about getting to the postseason healthy than the final score. With nothing on the line in the standings, the Bills’ priority will be avoiding unnecessary risk as the page quickly turns to playoff prep. Even if that means a quiet, eventful finish to the regular season and a goodbye to Highmark Stadium against a familiar foe.
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