Scott Garceau: NFL Weathers The Storm
Sunday's Bills-Jets game shifted to Detroit, after Buffalo's wicked blizzard, is unusual but the NFL has a history of adapting to strange circumstances. Snow, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and the death of a President have impacted the NFL schedule.
- The November 17, 1935 Boston Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles game was canceled due to rain and snow.
- The 1989 earthquake that damaged Candlestick Park forced the 49ers to play the Patriots at Stanford Stadium.
- In 1992 Hurricane Andrew blew out the September 6 game in Miami between the Dolphins and Patriots it was made up a month and a half later during the team's scheduled bye week.
- In October of 2003 wild-fires in the San Diego area caused a state of emergency and the NFL moved the Monday Night game between the Chargers and Dolphins to Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona.
- In 2005 Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the Louisiana Superdome. The NFL moved the Saints' home opener against the Giants to Giants Stadium in Jersey. For the rest of the season, the Saints home games were divided between the Alamodome in San Antonio and Tiger Stadium at LSU.
- The Vikings had 3 games postponed in December of 2010. Their game against the Giants on Dec. 12 was postponed a day after Minneapolis got 15 inches of snow. A Sunday morning roof collapse at the Metrodome then had the game moved to Detroit's Ford Field. The day after Christmas a Sunday Night game between the Vikings and Eagles in Philadelphia was postponed to Tuesday, December 28, due to a severe snowstorm. It was the first Tuesday NFL game in 64 years.
- Sunday World Series games in 1986, 1987, and 1997 forced NFL teams to play their home Sunday games on Monday night. A potential Oakland A's playoff game in 2001 forced the Raiders to play their game against the Cowboys two weeks in advance (on their bye weeks) to avoid a possible conflict.
- The Ravens had a postponement in 2008 thanks to Hurricane Ike's attack on the Gulf Coast and the damage the storm caused to Houston's Reliant Stadium. The Texans home opener with the Ravens was moved to November 9 with the Ravens winning the game 41-13.
- The September 11, 2001 attacks on our nation caused the NFL to postpone that week's entire schedule; the games were made up with a week added to the end of the regular season.
- Despite the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the NFL played on in November of 1963. The rival AFL cancelled all games; Pete Rozelle would later admit not postponing those games was his biggest regret in 30 years as commissioner.
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