playoffs

Seahawks are flying under the radar, as any sports team in the Pacific Northwest always does. They held SF to nine points total in the last two games (SF was riddled with injuries, but still).

 I am a fan of the 49ers and was very impressed how they overcame all of their injuries to make it to yesterday's game. But for all intended purposes the game was over the first 3 seconds when the opening kick was run back for a touchdown. Seattle never looked back and totally dominated the game. The Seahawks look very impressive and I now see clearly why they are picked to win the Super Bowl.

I don't know about your claim there..Seattle is pretty good in several areas and their overall record of 14-3 suggests they displayed some degree of dominance this year.

The Broncos will have to do without Bo Nix ..it's Stidham or bust for them the rest of the way.

I think Houston goes down today. Stroud looked bad last week and the cold in New England will be the difference against a dome team.

Da Bears should win today in the cold against the Rams.

  This time of the NFL year is when I find the best football being played by the best teams. Hopefully the games will be fairly refereed and the best team will win.

One piece of advice given in several books on sports betting I've read is that the public tends to overestimate the effect that cold weather has on a team whose home city is warm (-ish) in the winter. The reality is that most of a team's players aren't from their team's home city anyway. And they're all professional athletes; they're all given state-of-the-art equipment and clothing to help them handle the cold/the weather, and they get to practice for several days in the same place and environment where they'll be playing the game.

The great unwashed public doesn't realize this and tends to overbet on home teams where the weather is crummy. Thus, opportunities to place advantageous bets on the visiting team often arise, particular just before game time.

So Miami has not won a game below 32 degrees in about 20 years.  Usually cold weather teams are built differently than warm weather or dome teams

I have a hard time believing that any professional football team would have a hard time preparing its players for cold weather, even if their home city was in a warmer climate zone. I also doubt that there are aspects of cold weather that would affect the visiting team but not the home team as well.

I'd be curious to know whether home teams in open-air stadiums in cold climate areas have a better playoff games record than the relative strengths of them and their opponents would otherwise suggest. It wouldn't be enough that they have a positive record, because a playoff team that is playing at home will usually have a better record than its opponent and be the stronger team.

The Rams have alot more talent than the Bears.  It will be interesting to see if it is close.  Matt Stafford is probably more important than home field or the weather.