Steelers Will Have To Fight Jaguars, And Brutal Winter Weather On Sunday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Not only will the Pittsburgh Steelers have to fight the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, both teams will have to fight mother nature as well.
From Meteorologist Ron Smiley:
Think the Steelers will have an easy time with the Jaguars this Sunday?
You may want to check your expectations as history tells us that the Steelers are going to be in a fight. The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the few teams that have had some success when it comes to playing the Steelers. Something most can't say at all. In fact the Jacksonville Jaguars lead the overall series winning twelve of the twenty-three match-ups the teams have played.
Think the weather will play a role? It likely will. The forecast at this time has temps in the teens at times for the game that starts at 1:05pm at Heinz Field. Snow flurries may be falling with cloudy conditions. Wind speeds are likely to top out near 20mph with wind gusts over 30mph possible. It will be a nasty day for fans trying to stay warm but perfect football weather.
So far this season, the coldest game the Jags have played in was at Nashville playing the Tennessee Titans on December 31. Temperatures were in the mid-20s for the game with a wind chill of about 12°. Starters didn't play in the game as the Jaguars seeding was already determined and they lost the game 15-10. They also won a hard fought game against Cleveland on November 19th as well this season 19-7. That game saw snow showers and a wind chill of around 20°
This weekend's game may be one of the colder ones in the brief Jaguars season. The franchises coldest game ever was played on December 17th, 2000. Temperatures for that game were in the mid-teens with a wind chill near 0°. Jacksonville lost the game 17-14.
Other cold weather games the Jaguars have played in
2nd coldest: 1/3/2010
At Cleveland, 16°F, 16°F Wind at 15mph, 'Feels Like' 5°F, Jags lose 23-17
3rd Coldest: 12/7/2008
At Chicago, 19°F, winds 12 mph, 'Feels Like' 10°F, Jags lost
4th Coldest: 1/19/1997 (AFC Championship Game)
at New England, 25°F, winds 20mph, 'Feels Like' 10°F, Jags lost 20-6.
5th Coldest: 12/16/2007
at Pittsburgh, 32°F, winds 10 mph, 'Feels Like' 20°F, Jags Won 29-22.
Of course the only one of the top five coldest games the Jacksonville Jaguars have won is the one they played in Pittsburgh. Other series stats also shouldn't give much comfort to Steelers' fans. Only the jags have won a season (1999) 'series' with the teams splitting the season series 6 times. Hopefully that happens again this year. Also to note that the Jags have never lost at Heinz field when scoring 18 or more points.
So what do you think? Make sure you comment about your game predictions in the comment area.
*Special thanks to Jacksonville meteorologist John Gaughan for providing all the data for this and as always Go Steelers!*
