Slide, Reggie, Slide!

Who knew the Dolphins were a cold weather team?

Heck, through first seven games of the season, who knew the Dolphins were a team at all?

Since starting at a dreadful 0-7 and being accused of sucking for Luck, the ‘Phins have swam back to respectability by winning five of their last seven games, including a 30-23 victory over the Buffalo Bills Sunday in a snowy, picturesque Orchard Park, N.Y., where temperatures were just below freezing. (Wow, that was a long sentence.)

Miami running back Reggie Bush led his team with 203 rushing yards, a big chunk of which came on a 76-yard gallop to the end zone and capped by a slide through the end zone snow at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Teammate Brandon Marshall, who could take a few sliding pointers from South Beach’s newest resident, Jose Reyes, glided right past Bush.

“I play FIFA a lot on PlayStation,” Bush said after the game. “I felt like I did a little soccer slide right there.”

Bush’s impromptu celebration drew a 15-yard penalty.

No blubber off the Dolphins, who continue their December tour of cold Northeast states with a visit with the Patriots Saturday in Foxboro, Mass., where the forecast – yeah, I know it’s a little early for forecasts – calls for a high temperature of 36 degrees and, you guessed it, a chance of snow.

Photo: Getty Images

Note: Buffalonews.com has a great photo gallery of the snowy game.

One more thing: Someone just told me I could really increase page views to The Rainout Blog if I posted images of Bills cheerleaders dancing in the snow. I haven’t yet found a good shot, but I’ll keep checking. If you have one, send it my way, and I’ll post it on the blog.

Eli Can Blow With the Wind

To say Eli Manning and his receivers had a difficult time executing its passing attack last Sunday would be a strong understatement, perhaps as strong as the gusting winds that swirled around Giants Stadium during the G-Men’s 22-10 loss to the Washington Redskins.

Manning connected on less than 35 percent of his passes. The quarterback was victimized by winds of 15-20 mph – sometimes the gusts were stronger – and receivers with hands as soft as Baptist church pew.

The wind and weather for this weekend’s game in Buffalo, a crucial matchup that the Giants must win to stay healthy in the NFC playoff race, promises to be much worse. The forecast for Sunday in Buffalo calls for temperatures to be in the low 40s with a good chance of rain, sleet and possibly snow. Oh, and the wind is expected to blow just as strong off Lake Erie, if not stronger, than it did last Sunday in the Meadowlands.

That could be trouble for the Giants. The New York Daily News ran an excellent article Thursday detailing Manning’s inefficiency during cold weather games. Here’s an excerpt:

The winter has never been kind to Manning. His passer rating when the game-time temperature is below 50 degrees (67.8) is nearly 10 points lower than when the temperature is 50 or above (77.1), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His completion percentage remains consistent, but his interception percentage goes up when the temperature goes down, too.

That doesn't mean Manning should be labeled "a warm-weather quarterback." For one thing, his numbers are good when the temperature is below 30 (a 62.8% completion rate). For another, temperatures at kickoff are only one factor, and wind, snow or rain are not taken into account.

Wind is probably his bigger problem. Three weeks ago in Chicago, the winds were gusting near 20 mph in the first half and Manning was just 5-for-9 for 54 yards and an interception. The winds died down in the second half, in time for him to lead a fourth-quarter comeback. The winds weren't a factor the next week in Philadelphia and Manning's completion percentage was 54.8.

Manning and the Giants appeared to have a playoff berth all but clinched a few weeks ago. Now, after what has become an all-too-familiar December swoon the fellas in blue, the Giants are looking at a virtual must-win situation in Buffalo. A loss to the Bills Sunday means New York will have to somehow snatch a victory in the season finale against a New England Patriots club that more than likely will be itching to put a exclamation mark on a perfect 16-0 season.

Shuffle Off To Buffalo

We got news earlier today that the Buffalo Bills charter plane got stuck in the mud at a Cleveland airport, forcing the team to ride five buses back to upstate New York. It took a while for images of the plane to pop up on the Web, but now, thanks to Cleveland’s Newsnet5.com, we have visuals. Hey, there’s one the screen now. If you absolutely need to see more, here’s a slideshow. Ok, I’m officially retiring from this blogging stuff for the day. It’s 11:30 p.m. here at Rainout Blog headquarters, and I’m going to watch the Vikings finish the Bears. The Gridiron Norsemen lead 20-13, with 5:32 to play. Good night everybody.

First Snow, Now Mud Grounds Bills

The bad weather in Cleveland has done more to the Buffalo Bills than cost them a football game. Before the Bills could board its charter flight home Monday morning, the pilot of the plane took a wrong turn between runways and got the plane's front wheel stuck in mud at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The Bills, who lost 8-0 to the Brownies in a Cleveland blizzard Sunday, were forced to ride buses back to Buffalo, where they will be greated by rain, sleet and several inches of snow. The Bills' flight Sunday out of Cleveland was canceled by heavy snowfall.

WIVB in Buffalo has the story on its Web site, but no video of the mud-stuck plane. However, the story does feature a few seconds of game video that are worth seeing. Also worth checking out is Ellen Maxwell reporting the second story. Ellen is very cute in that snow cap. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow... in Buffalo!

Dawson's Kick

Wind was gusting at 40 mph at times during the blizzard in Cleveland Sunday, creating havoc on, well, about everything, including the kicking game. Brown's kicker Phil Dawson, who punched in a couple of wobblers, said he went against kicker's code and aimed his tries outside the goalposts. His first field goal began 10 feet outside the right upright and was blown just inside the left post to give the Brownies a 3-zip lead. Cleveland won 8-0 over the Bills. "Challenging. Brutal," Dawson told reporters after the game. "I would have to say in my nine years here that was by far the most difficult day to kick a football. Had there been no snow at all, it would've been in the top five just because of the way the wind was blowing."

Freeze Frames

As predicted the weather in Foxborough Sunday was horrible for the Jets – Patriots game. The pregame visuals were great, including the Weather Channel dude appearing on ESPN providing a live weather report from a beach somewhere near Foxborough. However, the best in-game visuals came out the winter wonderlands of Cleveland, where the Browns slid by the Bills, and Pittsburgh, where the Steelers melted like a snowman in a greenhouse to the warm-weather-based Jacksonville Jaguars. I may chime back in later with some weather details on each game, but for now here are some uber cool photos from those games. Enjoy!

Browns 8, Bills 0 in Cleveland


Jaguars 29, Steelers 22 in Pittsburgh


Patriots 20, Jets 10 in Foxborough


And now for something completely different:
Chargers 51, Lions 14 in Sunny San Diego

White Out in Brownsville

As I mentioned Friday, there are a number of potential bad weather games in store for NFL fans Sunday, including one of the day’s hottest matchups, Buffalo Bills at Cleveland Browns. According to forecasts, temperatures in Cleveland will get no higher than 22 degrees on game day with winds blowing at 22 miles per hour accompanied by a 90 percent chance of snow with accumulation predicted at 1-2 inches. Gusts could reach up to 41 miles per hour according to Accuweather.com. ClevelandBrowns.com reports that the team prepared for Sunday game by practicing outside Friday wearing Under Armour, ski masks and winter caps.

Speaking of snow in Cleveland, remember this?

Snow Is A Go Sunday

In addition to the bad weather projected for the Spy vs. Spy game in Foxborough (see below), there's a good chance we could have a slew of bad weather games come Sunday. And some of those are good games with playoff implications, including Bills at Browns and Jaguars at Steelers. Don’t' ya love it? Check out the forecasts for all of this weekend's NFL games on this weather.com page. That's it for me today. Have a good night and enjoy the wet, cold, slippery action… on the football field. Jeez! Go Appy State!