ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.—George Wilson has been around long enough to harbour no illusions about what Sunday’s NFL out-of-market game at the Rogers Centre is.

“For the most part, it’s a show,” the Buffalo Bills safety said here Wednesday. “You see just as many jerseys for the opposing team as you do for the Bills. They cheer for any big play, regardless of which team makes it.”

“I mean, it’s what it is. I’ve played in each of the games in Toronto and anybody who’s played up there has that expectation . . . The expectation that there’s going to be just as many cheerers for the Redskins as there will be for us.”

So much for any perception of a home-field advantage for the Bills, who take on the Washington Redskins in the fourth regular season edition of the so-called Bills In Toronto series.

To be sure, there is a marked difference between the atmosphere in Toronto — even with a capacity crowd of about 53,000 expected — and Ralph Wilson Stadium here, where more than 68,000 fans traditionally pack the joint.

Toronto: Relatively antiseptic.

The Ralph: Raucous thanks to the traditional tailgating parties that can rage for six hours before a 4 p.m. kickoff.

“It’s not possible,” Wilson said of a Toronto crowd approximating the mood of one in Orchard Park. “First and foremost, I don’t think the Bills fans will respond well to them not allowing open containers around the stadium and in tailgating parking lots. And then with the stadium being right there in the heart of downtown, there’s really not much space for the fans to spread out their tailgating set ups and to be able to do it like they normally do.”

Toronto: A roof-closed dome to keep the nasty elements at bay.

The Ralph: Wind, rain, sleet, snow, sometimes sun and no one knows for sure what’s coming until game day.

Toronto: Buffalo’s 0-3 in regular season games there.

The Ralph: The surprising Bills are 3-0 at home this season.

Advantage Sunday: The folks who stand to make money off the endeavour.

“It’s not a home game,” said Wilson. “We’re playing an international game that counts as home game because it’s relatively close to Buffalo. We’re ambassadors of the game trying to globalize the sport, we understand that, but at the same time, it’s not the same environment that we have here in Ralph Wilson Stadium.

“Regardless of who makes the big plays, they’re going to cheer. That’s why I call it more of a show more than anything. They’re just excited to see the game played in their city at their local stadium.”

There were those connected with the Bills who were less strident in their public comments about playing one of eight regular season “home” games in another country and even Wilson went out of his way to praise Toronto as “the most diverse city in the world.”

But the underlying theme is that it’s a bit of a nuisance but one that has to be dealt with. After all, the Bills can’t refuse to play.

“We really enjoy playing here (at Ralph Wilson) and there is a huge advantage to playing here,” said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. “With the noise, with the crowd, with the momentum that we get, and it definitely doesn’t carry over as much when we go to Toronto. But we have to look at it as a home game, we are going to have more fans but we can’t sit there and sulk and say it’s a road game.

“It’s part of the deal, it’s part of what we have to do every year. We have to roll with it.”

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The difference this year may be that fans are excited about the product the Bills put on the field. They’ve never come to Toronto with a winning record and arrive this weekend as legitimate playoff contenders almost halfway through the season.

Chan Gailey fell back into a bit of coach-speak when asked about the audience.

“I’ll say what I said last year, it’s our responsibility to be good enough to make it an advantage at some point in time,” he said. “We continue to play well and get to be a team that everybody gets excited about in the whole reason, it’s got a chance to be some thing everyone gets excited about.”