The purveyors of weather porn have hit the daily double with Sunday’s Steelers-Buffalo Bills playoff game.
In general, weather types — both national and local — love to warn us of threatening weather, to the point of overkill.
If they’re wrong and the promised doom does not arrive, you are expected to forgive and forget their misinformation and just be grateful it wasn’t as bad as promised.
If it is as bad as predicted, then the weather people indulge in orgies of self-congratulation for having warned you.
Now, toss in a playoff football game, with the threat of cold, snow and high winds, and they have a guaranteed audience up to and beyond kickoff.
Perhaps you have heard reports – since discredited – that the Steelers-Bills playoff game would be moved to Cleveland due to the threatening weather.
No doubt you have heard, or read, in-depth analysis of which team benefits more from inhospitable conditions.
The weather emphasis has prompted a search of my mental archives for memorable weather games.
As a young guy rooting for anyone playing the Green Bay Packers, I recall watching the broadcast of the 1967 NFL Championship game, AKA The Ice Bowl. It was played in Green Bay, with temperatures of minus-13 degrees and a minus-36 wind chill.
Both teams struggled to cope with the incredible cold. But, in the end the Packers won, as usual, beating the Dallas Cowboys on a quarterback sneak TD by Bart Starr with 13 seconds remaining.
I was still viewing from afar when the Steelers became the team of the 1970s, with some memorable weather games along the way.
When the Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders in the 1972 Immaculate Reception game, it meant the next week they would host unbeaten Miami in the AFC title game. Although Miami came in at 15-0, the 12-3 Steelers hosted because back then playoff teams were not seeded. Instead, home field was decided on a division rotation system.
It was thought the weather would be a huge edge for the Steelers. But the game-time temperature was an uncharacteristically warm 58 degrees, with no precipitation. The Steelers lost a close one, 21-17.
The Weather Gods were with the Steelers in the 1975 AFC title game vs. the Raiders, although the Raiders saw some less-than-divine intervention. The game began with the temperature at 17 degrees, but the Raiders were more concerned about icy field conditions.
A tarp had been placed over the field, with heaters blowing warm air under it to heat the artificial turf. This was offset by a rip in the tarp overnight that occurred due to windy conditions. It has been written that the tarp also was a touch small, leading to icy conditions being worst near the sidelines.
The teams combined for 12 turnovers, but the Steelers prevailed, 16-10.
Fast-forward to the end of the 1978 season and I was covering the Steelers, who won that AFC championship game against the Houston Oilers, 34-5, in a game played in miserable freezing rain.
The teams combined for 14 turnovers and the whole scene has been immortalized in those NFL Films shots of Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw sliding on the icy, slick turf like he was riding a saucer sled.
Though the years, I’ve covered a Steelers regular season game when it was brutally cold in San Diego, and another when torrential rains in Miami during the second half turned an apparent sure loss into a Steelers win as Merril Hoge proved to be quite the mudder.
Among my memories of weather games at Buffalo were a December 1982 game when Bradshaw completed just 2 of 13 passes for 3 yards in a 13-0 loss. It was a game played on a raw day and Bradshaw was on the verge of hypothermia, having failed to wear a thermal top under his jersey.
Another regular-season game at Buffalo was memorable for the incredible winds. The color guard guy trying to hold the American Flag in pregame ceremonies looked like he’d hooked a marlin.
Buffalo fans seated in stands behind one end zone, perhaps anticipating the massive wind gusts, had brought black garbage bags with them and amused themselves by holding them up to fill them with air, and letting those bags race down the stands, traverse the length of the field and rise out of the stadium at the other end.
Back to Sunday’s game, temperatures are supposed to be in the 20s with wind gusts of 50 miles an hour and perhaps seven inches of snow.
Expect lots of turnovers — by both sides. Expect uneven play. As far as which team will prevail, I wouldn’t want to make a bet, even with your money. But it should provide some memorable images.
Sam Ross Jr's site 