When the Buffalo Bills 2012 schedule came out, a couple of things stood out. The team would both open and close the year against The New York Jets. The one primetime game was a Thursday night one at the Ralph against the Dolphins. And in October, the two faced their lone games out west in back to back weeks. That quirk in the schedule led Chan Gailey, Buddy Nix and the Bills to do something they have never done before, stay out west for their entire week between games.
This Saturday the Bills will get on a plane and head to San Francisco like the normally do for all road games. But in normal circumstances they would finish the game on Sunday and jump on the plane and make it back to Buffalo late on Sunday. But this year they are doing it different. After the 49ers game, the Bills will head to Arizona and stay there to prepare for the Cardinals.
Head Coach Chan Gailey said he had a conversation with this week's opposing coach, Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers about taking this unique step in travel. The Niners just completed an Eastern swing where they played in Minneapolis (and lost) but then spent the week practicing in Ohio before heading to New Jersey where they crushed the Jets 34-0. Harbaugh said it was helpful to his team to avoid a pair of 6 hour plane rides and the Bills see it the same way. If the Bills play well, especially in Phoenix next Sunday this will look like a wise move. If they don't then it really won't matter how much jet fuel they saved this week
