THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- When receiver Lee Evans and the Buffalo Bills step on to the field at Rogers Centre on Sunday to face their arch rivals, the Miami Dolphins, they won't have Mother Nature in their corner.

Instead of playing outdoors at Orchard Park, N.Y., where the weather forecast is calling for a low of -8 C with a 60 per cent chance for snow and 30 kilometre-an-hour winds, the two teams will square off in a domed stadium with a balmy game-time temperature of 22 C.

And that's a worthy consideration because Miami is 2-7 in Buffalo after Dec. 1 -- including two playoff losses -- and just 4-10 overall there since 1994. Evans admits the Bills are losing an advantage playing the Dolphins indoors.

"It's just like going down there in September and playing in the heat," the Bills receiver said. "It's tough for us.

"Them coming up (to Buffalo) playing in December is tough for them. We'll lose a little edge like that, but it's just part of it."

The game will be the first-ever NFL regular-season contest held in Canada, but the second of eight games Buffalo will play in Toronto through the 2012 season.

The first game, a 24-21 exhibition loss to Pittsburgh in August, attracted just over 48,000 spectators -- some 5,000 short of a sellout. On Thursday, event organizers announced that Sunday's contest was a sellout.

But those attending Sunday's game can expect to see a different starting quarterback for Buffalo.

Incumbent Trent Edwards didn't practise again Thursday due to a hamstring injury sustained in last weekend's 10-3 home loss to San Francisco. So backup J.P. Losman, who replaced Edwards in the second half against the 49ers, will likely be under centre against the Dolphins.

Losman was 11-of-17 passing for 93 yards after replacing Edwards, but all the Bills could muster was a field goal despite being inside of San Francisco's 20-yard line three times in the second half. Losman made his last NFL start in a 36-14 road loss to Jacksonville on Nov. 25, 2007.

Losman has appeared in just three games this season for Buffalo but has enjoyed success against Miami. In four career games against the Dolphins, Losman has thrown seven TD strikes while giving up just two interceptions.

The Bills will receive US$78 million -- more than double their calculated 2006 operating income -- for the eight games in Toronto. Buffalo officials have continuously promoted the series as an attempt to expand their club's regional footprint into the lucrative southern Ontario market and establish a firm presence in Canada's financial capital.

The Toronto-based group staging the games -- spearheaded by Rogers Communications -- was looking to showcase the city as a viable centre in its efforts to lure a franchise north of the border. However, there's uncertainty surrounding that now with the death of company president Ted Rogers on Tuesday.

The game is a meaningful one for both Miami and Buffalo.

Miami (7-5) is tied for second in the tight AFC East with New England, just a game in front of Buffalo (6-6) but also just a game behind the first-place New York Jets (8-4).

The Dolphins are also a game behind both Indianapolis and Baltimore in the AFC wild-card race.

And that, Miami head coach Tony Sparano says, is the most important consideration.

"The game is a big enough game wherever it was," he said on the Dolphins' website. "I would hope that the elements wouldn't have been a factor one way or the other."

But the Bills and Dolphins are heading in opposite directions.

Miami has won five of its last six games, including last weekend's 16-12 road victory over the St. Louis Rams. In that game, the Dolphins allowed just 278 total yards after surrendering 530 the week before in a loss to the Patriots.

Buffalo, on the other hand, has lost five of its last six games. After opening the season with four straight wins and five victories in their first six games, the Bills would effectively be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss Sunday to Miami.

Buffalo hasn't made the NFL playoffs since 1999 while the Dolphins find themselves in post-season contention for the first time in five years but amazingly after posting a franchise-worst 1-15 record in 2007.

"We know that we control kind of our own destiny right now," Sparano said. "When you're in those kinds of situations, the best thing that I know how to do is to put your head down, eliminate the distractions and think about the now, what's in front of you right now."

The game will be a homecoming of sorts for Miami running back Ricky Williams, the former Heisman Trophy winner who spent the '06 season with the CFL's Argonauts while suspended by the NFL for violating its drug policy a fourth time.

This marks the second meeting this season between the two teams. Miami earned a 25-16 home win Oct. 26 that snapped a four-game losing streak versus Buffalo and marked the first of three straight defeats at the hands of AFC rivals for the Bills.

Miami last swept a season series with Buffalo in 2003.