Peyton says 'shove it'

Associated Press

If you think Peyton Manning can’t win cold weather games, you can shove it!

That’s what the Denver Broncos’ quarterback, notorious for his struggles in the elements, said to a Denver radio station Sunday after tossing for 397 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-28 victory over Tennessee.

“Whoever wrote that narrative can shove that where the sun don't shine," Manning said to KAO-AM in Denver.

Manning, who obviously is sick of the notion that his play cools with the outdoor temps, is apparently fed up with the criticism. Sunday’s win gets him to 11-12 in games when the temperature is 40 degrees or below. The kickoff temperature Sunday in Denver dipped below 20.

Sunday's win for Manning at home over the mediocre Titans is nice for now, but the QB still has a way to go to prove he's not simply a fair-weather competitor. The Broncos host the Chargers Thursday night – I'm guessing it's going to be cold on a December night in Denver – plus they're likely to host a couple of playoff games in the Mile High city in January.

If he passes those tests, then one big one remains. This year, the biggest game of all, the Super Bowl, will be played outside in New Jersey. If you believe the Farmer's Almanac – I don't – the game could look a lot like Philadelphia did on Sunday.

If Manning can get past those – particularly the final three – every one of his critics should take his suggestion and shove it in a not-so-sunny place.

-- cold --

Titans say let it snow

Associated Press

So, the Tennessee Titans are hoping for a blizzard Sunday when they venture a mile high into the sky to face the Broncos in Denver.

You know, because Peyton Manning simply stinks in cold and inclement weather.

Well, as my friend Corky used to say, the Titans can hope in one hand and @#$% in the other and see which one gets full faster.

Oh sure, the weather is going to be hellacious in Denver Sunday – the forecasts is calling for a high of 20 and a low of 6 with a chance of snow – but the mediocre 5-5 Titans are going to need more ammunition than a little cold and snow to stop Manning and the Broncos’ industrial strength offense.   

“Hopefully it’s a big snowstorm and it will give us a great chance to win,” said Titans coach Mike Munchak.

Yeah, because when it’s not-freezing cold outside, the Titans are like a raider in the autumn winter wind. 

They’ll knock you ‘round and upside down and laugh when they’ve conquered and won.

Oh, wait. I must be thinking about another team.

According to a story in The Tennessean, the baby blue-clad boys from Nashville have been outscored 89-21 in the last two games they’ve played when temperatures have dipped below freezing at kickoff. The last was a 55-7 trouncing from the Packers nearly a year ago in Green Bay.

But, Munchak wasn’t talking about freezing cold. He said “snowstorm.”

Ok, let’s hop into our mental time machine and think back to when we last saw the Titans play in snow. Oh, yeah. It was 2009 when the Super Bowl-bound Patriots dropped the Titans 59-0. Tom Brady threw six touchdowns.

Good luck, Titans. Don’t let the snow fort door hit you on the can on your way out of Denver.

-- snow --

Feeling the Heat at NFL Camps

Every year at this time, we hear stories about how bloody hot it is at NFL training camps. Recently, Weather.com ranked the 10 Worst Weather NFL Training Camps. So, how did Weather.com arrive at their rankings? The author of the story can explain it much better than I. Plus, it's really late here at The Rainout Blog World Headquarters, and I'm a bit lazy tonight.


From Weather.com:

We used five factors to arrive at our ranking for each NFL team. Temperature related elements such as average high temperature (85 degrees being neutral for exercise), average dew point (above 63 degrees as the defining point for it being muggy) and percentage of hours above 85 degrees. The higher the percentage, the longer the duration heat will have a detrimental impact upon a football player’s body. That percentage is even more critical during two-a-days: one practice is in the morning and the other in the heat of the afternoon.

The two cooling factors, no matter the temperature, are cloud cover and wind. As we have all experienced, standing in the shade is much preferred to standing in the sun when it is hot. For cloud cover, we used the percentage of days where skies are overcast. Direct sunlight may add as much as 15 degrees to the heat index.

A moderate breeze has a cooling effect on the body by evaporation of sweat during exercise. We took the mean wind speed and average daily max wind speed together so as to not discriminate against locations where wind speeds pick up in the afternoon due to local topography or coastal breezes.

It's not surprising most of the teams in the ranking are located in the southeastern part of the United States, including the Texans, Titans, Falcons, Panthers and Redskins, who train in Ashburn, Va., where temperatures reached 100 degrees last week on the first day of camp.

You know, training camp heat is tough on the fans too, as you can see in this Washington Post photo gallery of Redskins camp.

I'm sure Redskins players and coaches, but not so much the un-invited fans, are thankful for the team's new practice bubble, which can allow the team to sometimes escape the heat and those pesky, fast-approaching thunderstorms.

In the meantime, Weather.com listed the Texans' camp as the toughest, calling it the NFL's Iron Man Camp. Here are statistics from Weather.com to back up the claim:

July/August average high: 93 degrees / 93.5 degrees

July/August % of hours above 85 degrees: 36% / 36%

July/August average dew point: 74.5 degrees / 74 degrees

July/August % of hours with overcast sky: 5% / 4%

Fire Then Rain in San Diego

The forecast for heavy rain storms to hit in San Diego and Southern California this weekend could have far more of an impact on the folks who are trying to rebuild homes and lives after wildfires there in the fall than the impact that may be felt for Sunday's playoff at Qualcomm Stadium between the Chargers and Tennessee Titans.

Forecasters say a trio of storms could dump about a foot of rain in some of the southern portion of the state and about seven inches in San Diego County. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 Pacific and, according to WeatherChannel.com, temperature highs should reach about 58 with a 60 percent chance of rain.

Stadium officials have said a tarp will cover the field until an hour before kickoff in the event of persistent heavy rain.

The greatest chance of rain for this weekend's playoff matchups is in Seattle, of course. Forecasters there are calling for a high a 45 degrees and a 90 percent chance of precipitation falling on Qwest Field as the Redskins beat the Seahawks.

In Pittsburgh, where the Jaguars again will take down the overrated Steelers, there is a 30 percent chance of precip with lows dipping down to 39 for the 8 p.m. kickoff. Remember, the Jags took care of business in snow at Heinz Field just a few weeks ago.

And in case you're wondering, the Tampa weather will be lovely Sunday for the Bucs game with the Giants. A high of about 70 is expected at game time. I'm not sure who will win this one, but I'm thinking Eli Manning might put together a solid game away from the not-so-friendly Giants Stadium confines and lead his team to a win. That's just a hunch.