Jets and Bills finally get to play in Detroit

There was no way to keep the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets game from being a bit strange, but credit to everyone involved for trying their best to make it seem normal.

The Bills were forced from a home game due to a record snowfall that hit the area last week. On Thursday, the NFL announced the game would be moved from Buffalo to Detroit, and from Sunday to Monday night.

So in a stadium neither team has a tremendous connection to, in front of a crowd plied by free tickets that filled up most of the lower bowl of Ford Field but couldn't make the upper deck look like a regular NFL game, the Jets and Bills kicked off.

Lower bowl of Ford Field close to full tonight at coin toss http://ift.tt/1xPg1Ky

— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) November 25, 2014

Almost entire upper bowl empty at Ford Field for NFL Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. http://ift.tt/1rldyl1

— Jim Parker (@winstarparker) November 25, 2014

The crowd, via reports from the game, was mostly rooting for the Bills in their "home" game.

The game, in large part, was the rare NFL game played in the dark. NFL's Red Zone Channel wasn't showing highlights. It was not on CBS outside of the Buffalo and New York markets. it kicked off 90 minutes before the usual Monday night game slot. ESPN's Monday night pregame show went on like normal, talking about Ravens vs. Saints with periodic updates from the other Monday night game in Detroit. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers had access to the game, but it still didn't seem normal in our world of instant access to everything that an NFL game was happening to such a small audience, live and on television.

One of the touches the NFL did for the game was to try to transform the field to make it at least seem like a Bills home game, painting the team name in the end zones and the Bills logo at midfield.

Great host RT @JeffDarlington: Ford Field, where @Lions have gone above and beyond to make this easier @buffalobills: http://ift.tt/1xPg0GK

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) November 24, 2014

4 hours to kickoff. #NYJvsBUF http://ift.tt/1xPg3C8

— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) November 24, 2014

it still was odd, watching the game between AFC East rivals be played in a recognizable NFC North (or Little Caesars Pizza Bowl) venue.

The NFL did their best to make it seem normal (and commissioner Roger Goodell even showed up), and after all the Bills had been through in the past week, that was probably much appreciated.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1rldwcS