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Has cold weather/snow/wind actually been shown to be an advantage?


Another Fan

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Cold weather does affect teams from the "Sun Belt" as well as dome teams. Witness the Raiders at Bills in the 1990 AFC playoff game. There's plenty of other games I've

witnessed over the decades that supports this.

 

The Bills last year lost to Miami because, I feel, by that time, they started giving up on Bozo Rex & his brother, not because of the weather.

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Maybe not on the field.  But those were the kind of games I loved coming to years ago.  Had to figure out how many layers you could wear and still walk, and how many flasks you could hide between the layers.  Who will ever forget Brian Cox the one time the Fish walked out of the tunnel and the snow was blowing sideways?  You knew they were done before they even walked onto the field.

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1 minute ago, oldmanfan said:

Maybe not on the field.  But those were the kind of games I loved coming to years ago.  Had to figure out how many layers you could wear and still walk, and how many flasks you could hide between the layers.  Who will ever forget Brian Cox the one time the Fish walked out of the tunnel and the snow was blowing sideways?  You knew they were done before they even walked onto the field.

Here, here omf.

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It depends what type of team they have.

Last year against Miami  they let over 200 to Ajayi on the ground, so that kind of defeats the purpose of having bad weather to their advantage. Need to be able to run the ball and stop the run to use it for your advantage in my opinion, and minus last weeks effort against the Jets, they usually are able to do that

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1 hour ago, Another Fan said:

I know I've heard that as many years as I've been following the Bills.  I would think it may be more because it's the Orginal home of the 12th man why this can be a tough place for visitors.  I mean we lost to Miami here last December.  

 

 

Generally I would say the cold is not the most challenging element.  The top of the list at the cap is wind and then I would say rain.  Rain and wind combined make for the toughest conditions.  Teams with a good ground game neutralize the elements.  That’s probably why the tuna were successful last December.

 

Cold also becomes very relative depending upon what you are used to.  Thirty degrees feels tropical if you are used to ten below.  Likewise sixty can feel freezing if you are used to a hundred.

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This isnt science. However, the following 2 things hold true:

 

1.  We are better at running the ball than passing. 

2. Saints are a dome team and are a much better passing team. 

 

Its harder to throw the ball at optimal levels in cold, wet weather. So if Brees’ game is diminished even a little bit, thats a plus. 

 

However, we have to keep up our end of the bargain and actually run the ball well. Not have shady run to the left for -4yds on 1st down. 

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6 hours ago, Another Fan said:

I know I've heard that as many years as I've been following the Bills.  I would think it may be more because it's the Orginal home of the 12th man why this can be a tough place for visitors.  I mean we lost to Miami here last December.  

 

Cold I would say not as much these days. A lot of former players say with today's technology they wish they had gloves or thermal wear that is as warming as what exists today.

 

Rain/Wind/Snow those absolutely because it takes a simple slip by a DB or a WR and its a TD in either direction. Same with fumbles etc....

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A lot of players are from the southeast, Texas, and California so they are not acclimated to the colder conditions.  Additionally, the guys who came from other teams such as Atlanta, Carolina, and other moderate climate teams are not going to favor crappy weather just because they're now Buffalo Bills.  I would suspect the weather will work against both teams.

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The only time it hurt people was when a MNF crew member joked about the weather if the Bills hosted January playoffs games in 1991.

 

Apparently everyone in Buffalo immediately called to complain and wrote angry letters to the network.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

A lot of players are from the southeast, Texas, and California so they are not acclimated to the colder conditions.  Additionally, the guys who came from other teams such as Atlanta, Carolina, and other moderate climate teams are not going to favor crappy weather just because they're now Buffalo Bills.  I would suspect the weather will work against both teams.

See Cleveland vs buffalo, 8-0 in the blizzard.

 

There was also a game against the Giants where it poured all game and was windy.  All points scored at one end zone.  Giants win the game in Buffalo.

 

I'd prefer to say the cold has not advantage vs warm weather/dome teams than the other elements but that's probably also not true.  Could be because it didn't impact the visiting team or the lack of good teams we have had in the past 2 decades.

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13 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

See Cleveland vs buffalo, 8-0 in the blizzard.

 

There was also a game against the Giants where it poured all game and was windy.  All points scored at one end zone.  Giants win the game in Buffalo.

 

I'd prefer to say the cold has not advantage vs warm weather/dome teams than the other elements but that's probably also not true.  Could be because it didn't impact the visiting team or the lack of good teams we have had in the past 2 decades.

 

Agree that we've had some bad and ill-prepared teams over the past 20 years.

 

My point was that I don't believe most players enjoy playing in the bad weather and do not think the cold/snow is an advantage.

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Maybe in the good old days there was a bonus. A lot of guys were from an area, played college ball in the area and got drafted to teams more local. A California kid coming to Buffalo to play was a huge advantage. 

 

These days people play college ball further from home and get drafted wherever. Plus with free agency being what it is, a guy doesn't spend his whole career in one city. Opens the door to playing in all types of conditions. Nothing to back this idea up, just my own personal hunches.

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2 hours ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 

Agree that we've had some bad and ill-prepared teams over the past 20 years.

 

My point was that I don't believe most players enjoy playing in the bad weather and do not think the cold/snow is an advantage.

I have no doubt they don't like playing in bad/cold weather.  Same way I'm sure some players probably hate playing in Miami in September.

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I think there is no doubt all of our home playoff games during the Superbowl years helped the team get to all those Superbowls, with cold weather playing a role in that.

 

I have heard countless former Bills from those teams say as much, at least in their opinion.  Like they knew the weather was helping us back then and cite it as a reason for our success.

 

 

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