DETROIT — Robert Woods was just wondering last week when he was going to get out of his house. He never dreamed he’d end up having a career night in another state.

Woods, a second-year wide receiver, epitomized how the Buffalo Bills turned what should have been an enormous distraction into an unforgettable night. He had a career-high nine catches for 118 yards in Buffalo’s 38-3 victory over the New York Jets on Monday night at Ford Field, including an eye-popping one-handed catch against his helmet.

All this from someone who didn’t know a few days earlier when he would put on a uniform again. Like many of his teammates, Woods was snowbound as the area around Orchard Park, N.Y., was hit with over five feet of snow.

“It was a busy week, wondering if we were going to play a game, if we even were going to practice for a game,” he said. “Stuck in the house, it didn’t seem likely. The people in Buffalo made it happen. They cleared the roads for some of the players to get out. They wanted us to play this game. It was really for them, the city of Buffalo.”

The Bills missed two days of practice on Wednesday and Thursday, then realized that there was no way to clear all the snow from Ralph Wilson Stadium for their scheduled Sunday afternoon game, let alone get everyone there safely.

Once the game was moved, they had to hastily cobble up all of their players and personnel to fly to Detroit on Friday afternoon. They managed to get in three practices in their home away from home before taking the field.

“We were definitely out of our comfort zone,” running back Anthony Dixon said. “The whole time we just kept telling each other that we were going to make it work. We knew we were dealing with a lot of smoke, but we were just telling each other we’ve got to believe. We just kind of rallied together and got the job done.”

As it turned out, the neutral site turned out to be a Bills haven. Several thousand fans made the trek to Detroit and most of the locals in the crowd of 56,0444 also cheered for the displaced Bills.

“Obviously, you get concerned ‘Is it going to be a home field?’ and things like that, be ready for a silent count,” coach Doug Marrone said. “Then all of a sudden, as soon as I came out and looked to the right and saw all of the blue jerseys, I was like, ‘Holy cow! Here we go, baby! We’ve got the crowd.’ It was a little bit of a relief.”

Marrone also didn’t know what to expect from his players and he was pleasantly surprised.

“In this one, you really didn’t have a feel where the players were,” he said. “We came back in the first day (Friday night) and they were a little bit stiff. The next day we had a good practice and yesterday, we changed it up a little bit. I thought the players responded well. We kept them in the short area but still, it just doesn’t feel right when you’re not on that normal schedule.”

Whether things will get close to normal the rest of the week remains to be seen. There are concerns about heavy flooding after a warmup in that area. However, club officials are optimistic they will play their home game Sunday against Cleveland as scheduled.

Marrone certainly doesn’t want any more distractions, no matter how well the team performed after one of the craziest weeks in franchise history.

“The best thing is, I told this to the players and I’ve been dying to say it, ‘I just want to go home,'” he said.