On Sunday afternoon, the New England Patriots punched their ticket to the Super Bowl with a narrow road win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. The big story of this contest in the second half was the fact that the field was blanketed in snow, with more falling from the sky, which brought both offenses to a standstill down the stretch of this game.
The defensive slugfest renewed debate as to whether or not conference championship games should be played at neutral stadiums in order to avoid the weather having such a significant impact on who makes it to the Super Bowl, as outlined by Mike Florio of NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk.
“That’s the balance. On one hand, the team that earns the higher seed deserves to play at home. On the other hand, the biggest games arguably should be played under conditions that prevent weather from impacting the outcome,” noted Florio.
Florio also noted that, although more and more teams are turning to closed-roof stadiums, “with the Bills, Jets, Patriots, Steelers, Bengals, Giants, Eagles, Packers, Panthers, and Seahawks playing outdoors in cities that could introduce snow, ice, and/or bitter cold into the wintry mix, the prospect of weather affecting conference title games will remain.”
He also called Sunday’s game “unwatchable.”
Overall, fans typically get excited to watch football in the snow, but some are insistent that a line must be drawn when the weather is significantly impacting the ability of the players on the field to execute their game plans. On Sunday afternoon, that was clearly the case in Denver, with the Broncos having virtually no chance throughout the second half of moving the ball downfield, to the point where New England was essentially conceding their possessions, knowing they could rely on their defense.
It remains to be seen whether the NFL will do anything to address this.
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