Skip to main content
Advertising

Long overdue, Bills ready for Sunday night return

Live from Pittsburgh, it's Sunday night -- finally, for the Buffalo Bills.

It's been more than a decade since the Bills have found themselves playing on Sunday Night Football and that will change come kickoff in Pittsburgh when they toe the line with the Steelers in a game with huge AFC playoff implications that was fittingly flexed into its prime time position.

Quarterback Josh Allen and a tenacious defense lead the Bills, currently the No. 5 seed in the AFC, can clinch a postseason berth should they win their long-awaited return to Sunday Night Football and claim a victory over the Steelers for the first in an even longer time.

"I don't know if we ever really thought about that at all and obviously, we're playing well so the NFL wants to showcase premier teams and it's cool to be in that position on Sunday night]," [Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said, via the team website. "But now we have to continue to earn the right to be put on TV and obviously it's a big chance for us to showcase ourselves again and ultimately earn a playoff berth."

Sunday will mark the Bills' return to "SNF" for the first time since all the way back in Week 11 of the 2007 season, which marked their sixth straight loss on Sunday night, per NFL Research. Not since the first week of this century's first season have the Bills won a Sunday nighter.

And the last time Buffalo beat Pittsburgh was even longer ago, ranging all the way back to Week 5 of 1999. The Steelers have won six straight against the Bills.

Just how long ago Buffalo found itself on a Sunday night can also be measured in Pittsburgh success, once again via NFL Research. Since the last time the Bills played on a Sunday night, the Steelers have appeared in front of the "SNF" audience on 38 occasions and won a pair of Super Bowls.

As the AFC wild-card frontrunners face off, there's the additional storyline of the Edmunds brothers reuniting.

With running back Trey Edmunds and safety Terrell Edmunds on the Steelers roster, they'll compete against brother and Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. It will be the first known NFL game in 92 years with three brothers in the same game, as the last time was believed to have taken place in 1927 when Joe, Cobb and Bill Rooney played for the Duluth Eskimos.

So seldom are the Bills on Sunday night that Duluth Eskimos references are once again to be had.

"This is great," Tremaine Edmunds said. "It's kind of hard for me to really put it into words because it's been a lifelong dream to be at this stage. Just for my brothers what more can you ask for, what more for a family. We're really excited about going out there and showing our talents. I wish them nothing but luck, but I know we're all going to be competitive out there."

Indeed, there's a lot going on with the Bills as they head into a long overdue Sunday night showing.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

Related Content