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Buffalo Bills won’t call Toronto home in 2014

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson runs the ball into the end zone past Buffalo's George Wilson during a 2012 game in Toronto.
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson runs the ball into the end zone past Buffalo’s George Wilson during a 2012 game in Toronto.
(Nathan Denette / Associated Press)
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The Buffalo Bills will be playing all eight of their home games at home this year.

That may sound redundant, but it’s not for a team that has played one “home” game a season in Toronto the last several years.

The Bills and Toronto partner Rogers Communications announced Wednesday that they were suspending the series, which is supposed to run through 2017, for the upcoming season to allow both sides to figure out ways to enhance future games.

For the Bills, that means figuring out how to actually win games in Canada. Since the series started, the team has gone 1-5 across the border with the lone win coming against the Washington Redskins in 2011.

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In addition, Buffalo is 0-4 in games played in Toronto during the month of December. Following a 34-31 overtime loss to the Atlanta Falcons there on Dec. 1, team President Russ Brandon indicated that the Bills might be losing home-field advantage by playing in Canada.

After all, Toronto is about a two-hour drive from Buffalo. Plus, those games are played in the domed Rogers Stadium rather than the under the often rugged conditions of Ralph Wilson Stadium that time of year. The harsh weather is viewed to be an advantage for the Bills over some of their warmer-weather opponents.

Then again, this is the Bills we are talking about -- a team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2004 and hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999. The most games they’ve won since the Toronto series started is seven.

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So in addition to figuring out how to win games in Toronto, the Bills also have to figure how to win games in Buffalo and opposing teams’ cities.

Until that happens, though, they might as well follow the lead of “South Park” ... blame Canada.

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