While the Bills will be the 'home' team for Sunday's game in Toronto, the crowd could very well be pro-Dolphins.
The Buffalo Bills will play host to the Miami Dolphins at Rogers Centre this Sunday and it wouldn't be the least bit surprising if the crowd cheered more for the visitors from the sunshine state.
Anyone who is a fan of the Bills can go any time they want to Orchard Park, New York to see them play, including seeing Buffalo play host to the Dolphins.
In fact, it may be the most relevant game on the calendar for Bills fans. It's been said, no matter how bad the Bills are fans are willing to forgive them if they beat Miami at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Based on a handful of interviews conducted outside the Ralph on Sunday prior to what would be an embarrassing 10-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Bills fans had absolutely no interest in coming to Toronto for the game.
And some were quite upset that the game against the hated Dolphins had been shifted to Toronto.
Who could have known that upon the release of the schedule, the game would have such relevance? After all, the Dolphins were 1-15 a year ago?
Now it is Miami that figures to be the bigger attraction. The Dolphins are the better team in the standings and on paper. They have a more exciting quarterback in Chad Pennington than the combination of Trent Edwards, whose playing status is uncertain after a groin injury sidelined him after the first half against San Fran, and backup J.P. Losman, who has frittered away the opportunities given to him.
Then there's Ricky Williams. He has been rejuvenated this year, to the point the Dolphins extended his contract to next season. Now he's not playing because he has to fulfill a contract; it's because he wants to play and, in turn, the team wants him.
In his injury-plagued season with the Argos two years ago, Williams became the story of the year in the Canadian Football League. Numerous Dolphins fans of all ages wore jerseys with Williams' name on the back. Expect a lot of people to be dressed in Ricky jerseys and those of his teammates.
There's another reason the Dolphins are the ticket: Anyone who grew up in the '70s had a connection to the Dolphins. They were the team of the baby boomer generation. They were as newsworthy then as they are now, uniting two different generations.
So while the Bills view this tilt against the Dolphins as more of a home game than a neutral-site game, don't be surprised if the crowd is pro-Miami.
The game is a near-sellout already, but most of the tickets have been bought from the Canadian-side of the border. The chance to see the Dolphins play in Toronto is part of the first-ever regular-season game played in Canada.
History is in the making.
The game will be played under a roof shut tight because that is the policy following the end of the baseball season and drainage concerns. Already the Bills, clinging to their post-season lives by a thread with a last-place record of 6-6 in the AFC East, have lost a significant home-field advantage.
And the crowd is expected to be cheering as much, if not more, for the Dolphins.
For one game, anyway, the Bills won't necessarily make people shout only for them.