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“Football is Meant to be Played in the Elements” – Counterpoint: The Otherwise Dominant Eagles Almost Lost to the Rams in the Snow
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“Football is meant to be played in the elements,” they say, and they aren’t necessarily wrong. Some of the most iconic Eagles football images go back to Shady McCoy tearing up the Detroit Lions in 2013, and the 1988 fog bowl against the Chicago Bears, in which Randall Cunningham threw for more than 400 yards but just couldn’t get the ball into the end zone. What would NFL history be without the 1967 Ice Bowl or images of fan volunteers shoveling snow ahead of a big playoff game?
It’s a topic that’s come into play since the Eagles sent out a survey to season ticket holders, asking what they prefer in Lincoln Financial Field renovations, or a new stadium entirely. Would this hypothetical new stadium come with a retractable roof, or maybe a dome?
You’ll find opinions falling on both sides of the spectrum, naturally, with old-school fans in particular being anti-dome, anti-roof. They want snow games and rain games and whatever else Mother Nature drops on South Philadelphia on any given Sunday. And sometimes, not always, but sometimes, this comes with a paired opinion that playing in the elements benefits a Mid-Atlantic or Northern team, the Eagles or Bills, for example, when playing against Florida teams or dome teams that just aren’t used to the conditions. Teams like Tampa and Arizona are expected to be soft or brittle when taken out of their climate-controlled stadiums or 70-degree winter days.
It makes sense in theory, but was proven not exactly true just a few months ago, when the Eagles barely got by the Rams at home, playing in the driving snow at Lincoln Financial Field. It will look cool in photos for years to come, but it was their most difficult playoff game of the four, and wasn’t enjoyable to experience. It was a harrowing nail-biter of a performance in which Jake Elliott, Saquon Barkley, and Jalen Carter put forth incredible individual efforts to push the Birds into the NFC Championship Game.
This is what the Rams mustered against the Eagles in that game:
- 400 total yards
- 291 passing yards, two touchdowns
- seven sacks of Jalen Hurts, plus a safety
- split possession 29/31 minutes
- 18 first downs
- 5.7 yards per play
This was a Rams team playing better football down the stretch, but the same group that the Eagles thumped 37 to 20 in their house back in November. And the only reason LA kept it within three touchdowns back then is because they benefited from some fugazi pass interference calls that got them into prime red zone position. Otherwise, it wasn’t close.
In the divisional round, 13 of the Eagles’ 28 points were scored before the snow started coming down. It was a slog from there, with field goals, sacks, a couple of fumbles, a tush push false start, and some total duds for offensive drives. It came down to a defensive stop on the final drive after two second-half LA turnovers, and maybe the weather had something to do with Matt Stafford losing the second one, but it didn’t seem like the snow was a clear benefit for the Eagles. If anything, it seemed like an equalizer, with both teams scoring 15 points after the precipitation started coming down.
Hard to prove definitively, of course. Maybe the Rams were better than we thought and maybe the Eagles played a higher-level game against the Packers, Commanders, and Chiefs.
But the crux of the debate is whether or not playing in the snow or rain or sleet actually provides a competitive advantage. A roof team from Los Angeles came in and gave the Birds everything they could handle, and people forget that the Lions were actually leading the 2013 game in the fourth quarter before the Birds pulled away with a late burst.
So it’s one thing to enjoy the elements, and cold weather football, but what’s more important is whether or not it actually gives the Eagles an advantage. And as much as you love iconic photos like this one….
…the best performance in franchise history took place inside of a New Orleans dome:
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com