Mike Tirico alongside Cris Collinsworth discussing the snowy conditions in the Week 13 Bills-49ers SNF game Photo Credit: NBC
NBCBy Reice Shipley on

Ahead of the Week 13 Sunday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers in Orchard Park, most understood that weather would be a factor in the game. But viewers at home perhaps didn’t quite know how much of an impact the snow would have on NBC’s broadcast of the game as well.

Ahead of the game, the Sunday Night Football studio crew of Maria Taylor, Jac Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison braced the chilly weather down on the field dressed in winter coats and gloves.

The studio crew discussed how the snowy conditions are quite familiar for the Bills compared to a team like the 49ers, who never see these kinds of conditions outside of the infrequent northeastern road game as they have on Sunday night.

“This is the kind of weather they dream about in Orchard Park,” said Collinsworth. “Over two feet of snow so far this weekend, temps in the 20s, wind gusts in the 20s, although the wind is dying down a little bit here. This is just what they call a good time.”

Shortly after during their preview of the game, NBC play-by-play Mike Tirico and color analyst Cris Collinsworth mentioned how snow would potentially ramp up in the second half.

“No snow right now,” said Tirico. “But maybe some coming in the second half. Just to add to the difficulty for the Niners. And Brock Purdy, maybe gets to play in a snow game against Josh Allen and the Bills, who are in their environment here and on a roll. Stars all over the place. A couple of feet of snow. Settle in.”

Tirico would be off in his assessment… Snow picked up shortly after kickoff and was instantly a talking point from the broadcast team from the start to the end of the game.

On the first touchdown of the game from Bills running back Ray Davis, Collinsworth outlined the difficulties for the defenders in the game moving laterally on the snowy field.

“You know Mike, it’s so funny. The hardest part of playing defense in this game is getting that first step going. When you get a back running to the edge and you have to try to get running in one direction, you are just slipping and falling everywhere.”

Moments later, NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark further outlined the difficulties for the players, reporting that players on both sides were having to clean off the cleats in between plays, as snow was actually getting stuck on the studs of their cleats. She even went as far as likening the snow on the field to the consistency of Dippin’ Dots.

“We’re seeing on both sidelines that players… Snow is sticking to their cleats. They are having to clean out the snow between the studs. Some players have been changing their cleats. I have to say, instead of normal snowflakes, do you know the ice cream Dippin’ Dots? It’s like that. And I know it looks windy up there and on the TV screen. I do have to say, down here, it is not windy at field level. Both sidelines have chicken broth and hot chocolate if you are wondering.”

Collinsworth, of course, played in the NFL for eight seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. But even he admitted that he has never seen anything like the conditions of Sunday’s Bills-49ers game.

“Not like this,” said Collinsworth. “I warmed up in this before. We played one in Denver where the snowflakes would actually fly into your eye. And you’re blinking and trying to figure out. Luckily, it kinda died off a little bit after that. But I have never been in a game that looked this slippery. I mean, we’re seeing people with their first step falling on their face and falling to the ground. I have never played in that.”

Unfortunately, the slippery conditions on the field did lead to one significant injury for the 49ers. Star running back Christian McCaffrey, who is still rounding into form after missing the first half of the season with Achilles tendinitis, fell to the ground on his own on a rush attempt in the second quarter.

McCaffrey would later be ruled out for the remainder of the game with a knee injury. And given the fact that the injury was non-contact, it obviously doesn’t look great for the remainder of his season.

This only adds to the litany of injures for the 49ers heading into the game. That list includes Nick Bosa, Deommodore Lenoir, Trent Williams, and Dre Greenlaw, none of whom were able to suit up for the game.

[Awful Announcing on X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

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