Sunday, snowy Sunday

Jeffrey G. Pittenger/USA TODAY Sports, via Reuters

If Sunday's NFL action didn't thrill you, you must have ice water in your veins.

As I told my wife, Sunday's games, particularly the early contests, were the most exciting I've seen on one Sunday in a while. There were high-scoring games, close games, a near upset in New England and constant lead changes late in the fourth quarter of the Baltimore/Minnesota game.

The one key element to all this excitement, in most cases, was the weather. We had snow in near D.C., Baltimore, Green Bay and Pittsburgh, but the blizzard-like conditions in Philly provided the most visually appealing matchup of the day.

I'll write more on this later – real-world stuff is getting in the way of important Rainout Blog stuff today – but for now I'll link you to a pretty cool snow-game gallery on NFL.com.

Oh, and don't forget temperatures will be down to 11 degrees Fahrenheit tonight in Chicago where da Bears host the Cowboys. By the way, what's Tony Romo's record like in December?

-- snow --

Get the tuck out

The NFL rule that made Al Davis scream at the top of his lungs, "Mother tucker… MOTHER TUCKER!!!" is no more.

Ok, it's doubtful Davis ever yelled those words, but there is no doubt the "Tuck Rule," as it came to be known, played a significant role in NFL history, most notably on a snow-covered field in Foxboro, Mass., during the 2002 AFC Divisional Round playoff game between the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots.

You know what happened, so there's no need to go over the details.

If Davis were still with us, he'd be elated, but probably still cursing, to know NFL owners, at their annual meeting in Phoenix, voted 29-1 Wednesday to eliminate the controversial and, if you ask me, stupid rule. Apparently 29 NFL owners also deemed the rule stupid, for lack of (read: laziness of trying to find) a better word.

The Redskins, for this reason, and the Patriots, understandably, abstained from voting. The Pittsburgh Steelers voted to keep the "Tuck Rule." Why, Steelers? Why?

Meanwhile, the Raiders official Twitter feed needed only 17 characters, well shy of the 140 limit, to express the team's sentiments:

Adios, Tuck Rule.
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) March 20, 2013

It was only five days ago, when speculation was the "Tuck Rule" was in danger of extinction, that the tweeting Raiders had this to say:

Tuck Rule? It’s been 11 years, 1 month and 23 days…but who’s counting? twitter.com/RAIDERS/status…
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) March 14, 2013

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%

I Would Pay to See a Kick Returned in a Hurricane

Oops!

Oh, no!

Not again!

Come on, Cromartie, you @#$%!

Those are just a few words and phrases Jets fans, I’m sure, have used while watching their team’s normally reliable kick returners cough up the pigskin to the opposition this season.

It’s happened four strait games now following rookie Jeremy Kerley’s ball-belching gaffe against Washington Sunday that led to a Redskins score. The Jets have fumbled away six return chances this season thanks to the uncertain hands of Kerley, Antonio Cromartie and Joe McKnight.

With the Jets most likely needing to win their four remaining games for a chance at the playoffs, Coach Rex Ryan has decided to go with the sure-handed Jim Leonard on kick returns, particularly as the season moves into the potentially harsh winter months of December and January.

Leonard may not – who are we kidding? Does not – have the speed of the aforementioned returners, but Ryan has confidence in Leonard’s ability to secure the ball under any circumstances, even severe storms.

“As I mentioned before, he can catch it in a hurricane,” Ryan said in a press conference of his sure-handed return man. “This time of year, the weather has a tendency to pick up, the wind and all those types of things. I just, right now, would feel more comfortable having Jim Leonhard back there. I know Westy (special teams coach Mike Westhoff) and I feel the same way. I think that’s how we’re going to go."

Photo: Getty Images

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.