The Buffalo Bills wrap up their stay in the southwest on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, where they’ll face the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. It’s a familiar setting only in the most technical sense: Buffalo has played there once before, and that came in 2020, with no fans in the building during the Covid year.
The Bills didn’t head straight back to New York after their 37-34 overtime win over the Rams on Monday night. Instead, they stayed on the West Coast and set up in Newport Beach, California, about five miles from UC Irvine, where they’ve been practicing this week. The plan was built around the schedule, since flying home after a Monday game and then returning to Las Vegas five days later would have been a heavy ask.
Brady said the decision came down to recovery and practicality.
“Flying back there, you're getting in late, there's a recovery component of it and there's a physical component, and then having to fly all the way back here,” Brady said. “Look, it happens and teams do it.
I'm fortunate, Mr. Pegula was all about it.
And now it's about our guys taking advantage of that recovery and making sure that they're doing things.
“They're taking advantage of as much opportunity they have of living in the training room doing what we have to do. They played a lot of plays the other day, but there's no excuse.
No one cares come Sunday. And so that to me is the most important thing, the recovery component.”
Buffalo last handled a similar setup in 2012, when Chan Gailey was in his final season as head coach. The Bills were hammered 45-3 at San Francisco, stayed on the West Coast, and then beat the Cardinals 19-16 in Phoenix the following week.
Brady also pointed to another upside of staying together for the week.
“Being away and then we're all in the hotel together or the guys are watching tape together, they're growing together, they’re eating together, they're doing that stuff from a training camp perspective,” Brady said. “So I hope there is growth from our team.
“But at the end of the day our job here is to come win, prepare what we got to do here, get on the plane (to Las Vegas) and try and find a way to go 1-0 this week.”
The Raiders come in at 3-2, a start that qualifies as somewhat surprising under first-year head coach Klint Kubiak.
Here’s what you need to know for Sunday’s game:
Date: Sunday
Start time: 4:25 p.m.
Venue: Allegiant Stadium
The game will air on CBS, with local broadcasts on WROC channel 8 in the Rochester area, WIVB channel 4 in the Buffalo area, WTVH channel 5 in the Syracuse area, WKTV channel 2 in the Utica area, WENY channel 36 in the Elmira area, WRGB channel 6 in the Albany area, and WBNG channel 12 in the Binghamton area.
Streaming options include NFL.com, the NFL mobile app, and NFL+, though NFL+ cannot be cast to a TV and must be watched on a phone or tablet.
BetMGM listed the Bills as 4.5-point favorites as of Friday, with the over-under at 53. Buffalo was minus-235 on the money line, while Las Vegas was plus-195.
On radio, the game will be on SiriusXM channel 261 for the Bills feed and channel 192 for the Raiders feed, and on the Bills Radio Network. Chris Brown will handle play-by-play, Eric Wood will be the analyst, and Steve Tasker will work sideline duty.
The Bills Radio Network includes stations across New York and beyond, including Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Utica, Dunkirk, Hornell, Elmira, Jamestown, Olean, Ogdensburg, Watertown, Bradford, Cortland/Ithaca, Auburn, Geneva, Binghamton, Newark, Cobleskill/Schoharie, Williamsport, Erie, New York City, West Palm Beach, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.
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