'Sunday Night Football' live updates: 49ers vs. Bills

‘Sunday Night Football’ live updates: 49ers vs. Bills

Posted by Admin December 1, 2024 Football

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Snowy night for football

Before the Buffalo Bills could host San Francisco in prime time Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y., the team sent out a message to its fanbase.

Come to Highmark Stadium, and please bring a shovel.

Anticipating several feet of snow ahead of the NBC “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Bills (9-2) and 49ers (5-6), and with the National Weather Service predicting temperatures in the low 20s during game time, the team asked its fans to help clear snow from the stadium. (Approved shovelers would be paid $20 per hour, with food and hot beverages also provided.)

Shovelers were tasked with cleaning up a stadium covered by a whiteout, to open up walking lanes so that fans could later watch the Bills open up running lanes for quarterback Josh Allen. Given the stadium’s location near the east end of Lake Erie, the Bills often play in adverse weather; just last year, the team also asked fans to help shovel snow out of its stands before a playoff game against Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday announced that road crews from the state’s transportation department had been assigned to clear roads near Highmark Stadium, and that tow trucks would be stationed around the stadium to help clear incidents as quickly as possible, according to TV station WGRZ.

“With tonight’s kickoff in our sights, we are doing everything we can to clear roads, assess damage and provide state and local partners with the resources they need,” Hochul said.

Allen aiming for first MVP award

Bills QB Josh Allen is again playing at a high level this season and enters this week as the favorite to win his first career MVP award. Allen is looking to become just the 3rd Buffalo Bill to win the award, joining RBs O.J. Simpson (1973) and Thurman Thomas (1991).

Purdy’s hardest season

After going 17-4 in his first 21 regular season starts over the 2022 and 2023 seasons and making the Pro Bowl last year, 49ers QB Brock Purdy is 5-5 in 10 starts this year.

He has been plagued by inconsistency and is on pace for a career-high 12 interceptions. Purdy had 2+ total TD in each of his last five games played, with 7 pass TD and 4 rush TD over that span. However, he also has 4 INT over that span (3 in Week 7 loss vs KC) and had his fewest pass yards of the season (159) in Week 11 vs Seattle.

49ers and Bills both still trying to get over the hump

Buffalo and San Francisco have been two of the best teams in the NFL over the last six years, ranking second and tied for third among NFL teams in total wins over that span.

Buffalo and Kansas City are the only teams to make the playoffs each of the last five seasons, while San Francisco is one of five other teams to reach the playoffs four times over that span (also Baltimore, Philadelphia, Green Bay, Tampa Bay).

Despite their success, both teams have come up short on the biggest stage. The Bills have reached the Divisional Round each of the last four seasons (KC is the only other team to do so) but Buffalo has made the AFC Championship Game just once (2020 season) and has not reached the Super Bowl over this stretch.

Buffalo has never won the Super Bowl and last appeared in the Super Bowl in the 1993 season (the final of four straight Super Bowl losses).

Buffalp is tied with Minnesota as the only franchises to reach four Super Bowls without winning a title. Three of Buffalo’s last four playoff exits came against the Chiefs (2020 AFC Championship Game, 2021 & 2023 Divisional Rd.), with the other coming in the 2022 Divisional Round. vs. Cincinnati.

The 49ers have reached the Super Bowl twice over this span — in the 2019 and 2023 seasons — both times losing to the Chiefs. San Francisco also reached the NFC Championship Game in the 2021 (lost at Los Angeles Rams) and 2022 (lost at Philadelphia) seasons.

49ers coming off rare lopsided loss

Facing the surging Bills is hard enough, but the 49ers are coming off a 38-10 loss at Green Bay that was the largest margin of defeat on the road since Kyle Shanahan became the coach in San Francisco in 2017.

It was their third-largest loss under Shanahan, overall.

Shanahan said he was “embarrassed” by the 49ers’ rush defense that allowed 169 yards, three second-half turnovers and season-high-tying nine penalties. The latter was a surprise after entering the game with only 46, among the league’s fewest.

Setting the scene

Predicted to be a potential Super Bowl matchup in the offseason, 49ers-Bills is now a game between one team that has lived up to that billing and another that has been too injured to do so.

Since starting 3-0, only to follow with two losses that rattled some confidence built during their start, the Bills have won six consecutive games to lead the AFC East by a wide margin over Miami.

Buffalo has outscored opponents by 106 points this season, the NFL’s second-highest scoring differential, trailing only Detroit (plus-177), thanks to a defense that is one of only nine across the league to hold opponents to less than 20 points per game on average.

Buffalo also has protected its MVP-candidate quarterback, Josh Allen, who has thrown for 18 touchdowns against five interceptions.

San Francisco, in contrast, has never found a stretch this season where things have settled down, having yet to win consecutive games all season. With star back Christian McCaffrey hurt the first eight weeks and multiple receivers injured for various stretches, the 49ers have gone from averaging 28.9 points per game last season, third-best, to 23.6 this season, which ranks 13th.