Lambeau Field advantage

January 19th, 2008 at 12:09pm Matt Trowbridge

Normally, you’d think Green Bay’s biggest cold-weather advantage would be when the Packers played dome teams like the Colts or warm-weather teams like the Bucs and Cowboys. The Giants would have to rank with the Bears — how did that cold-weather game turn out this year? — and Bills as teams with the least advantage because of their own cold weather. No stadium gets worse swirling winds than the Meadowlands, now that Candlestick Park is gone in San Francisco. But Eli Manning hasn’t handled the cold particularly well, and these Giants aren’t the Giants of Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor — although those Giants did handle the cold well in Chicago 22 years ago (then again, they couldn’t have stood up to the 1985 Bears on any field). The main reason, a frigid Lambeau should be help a Packers team that doesn’t need any help — all eight ESPN experts are picking Green Bay to win — is because bad footing especially neutralizes pass rushers. The strength of the Giants is on their great defensive line, particularly Michael Strahan and the other pass-rushing ends. The Giants have the best defensive line in football. But it’s easy to steer pass rushers wide when the footing is slippery, and tough to change direction. Seattle’s All-Pro end Patrick Kearney didn’t make a single tackle last week. If Strahan and Co. can’t get to Favre, the Giants don’t stand a chance. And while the Giants’ pass rushers should struggle with the cold, Favre excels in bad weather. He had the highest playoff passer rating of his career in last week’s snow storm that dumped six inches of snow on Green Bay. — Matt Trowbridge

Entry Filed under: Green Bay Packers