Buffalo Bills game vs. Miami Dolphins moved to prime time slot in Week 15

As was widely expected, the Buffalo Bills’ AFC East showdown with the Miami Dolphins in Week 15 has been flexed into a prime-time window.

The game at Highmark Stadium will be played at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, and will be broadcast on NFL Network as part of a tripleheader.

In Rochester, the game will not be shown on any of the local networks, but it will be available on Buffalo’s ABC affiliate, WKBW, channel 7. This is the same scenario Rochester fans faced last week when the Patriots game on Amazon Prime Video was not available over the air outside the primary market.

Fans can stream all the NFL Network games through NFL digital properties across devices (NFL.com and the NFL app), NFL Network distributors' apps and sites, and on phones with NFL+. Live game audio will be broadcast nationally by Westwood One, and carried on SiriusXM and TuneIn. You can also stream if you have subscriptions to DirecTV, fuboTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, or YouTube TV.

And of course, there is the Bills Radio Network with stations all across the region including Rochester (WCMF 96.5 and WROC 950 AM).

More:Buffalo Bills control their destiny to No. 1 seed: Here's the path in AFC playoff picture

With this shift, the Bills will now have six prime-time telecasts, plus they played another island game in the early Thanksgiving window, not to mention the Week 6 game in Kansas City in the 4:25 window that was shown to almost the entire country.

The schedule on Dec. 17 will kickoff at 1 p.m. with the Colts traveling to Minnesota, and will be followed by a 4:30 start between the Ravens and Browns in Cleveland.

The Bills and Dolphins played several prime-time games against each other back in the heyday of Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, but this will be the first night-time meeting between the teams since Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, a 22-9 Miami victory in Orchard Park.

In other news:

▶ Coach Sean McDermott spoke with reporters via Zoom Monday and he was asked for his thoughts on how nicely the weekend of results played in Buffalo’s favor.

Even though Bills Mafia is over the moon regarding what happened, as you might expect from an NFL coach, McDermott feigned indifference over the fact that the Bills are now in first place in the AFC East and hold the No. 1 seed in the AFC based on Miami losing to San Francisco and Kansas City losing to Cincinnati.

“To be honest with you, just kind of business as usual,” he said. “Certainly focused on this Jets team, a team that beat us in the first go-round so we’ve got to figure out a way to get it done this go-round.”

McDermott did say that he enjoyed having the weekend off and being able to spend time with his two children, though he did lament that he brought a donut home for a snack on Friday, only to have his dog eat it.

“I think that little mini-bye came at the right time,” he said. “We pushed through three games in a short amount of time there so it was good to get away a little bit and get a couple of days rest and get back at it this morning.”

▶ On the injury front, McDermott was vague on the status of defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, fullback Reggie Gilliam, and offensive tackles David Quessenberry and Dion Dawkins.

Dawkins missed the Patriots game with an ankle injury, and in the game, Gilliam hurt his ankle, Quessenberry did as well, and Phillips suffered a shoulder injury.

“All those guys are improving,” he said. “We’ll see how they do this week. Kind of put them all in one category there.”

Obviously, the Bills need Dawkins back as soon as possible, especially with two huge AFC East games up against the Jets Sunday and the Dolphins the following Saturday. Quessenberry started in Dawkins’ place and did not play well, though to be fair, McDermott did say he suffered his injury early in the game and played through it until the fourth quarter when he had to come out.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills schedule: Game vs Dolphins in Week 15 moved to Saturday