NFL Playoff Game To Be Among The Most Frigid

Saturday's first-round NFL Playoff matchup between the Bills and Patriots will be unique in that it stands to likely be among the coldest-ever NFL post-season games. It will fall short of some other memorably frigid playoff games, but only a small handful of post-season games in NFL history have had lower temperatures during the game, reports Accuweather.

Like the Bills, the Patriots are no strangers to playing in winter weather. New England’s dynastic run under head coach Bill Belichick began in a snowstorm began almost exactly 21 years ago in a game that was nicknamed the Snow Bowl (or for some, the Tuck Rule Game). Battling the Oakland Raiders, Belichick’s Patriots won on an overtime field goal in howling winds and fiercely falling snow -- a result that lives in infamy.

According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff, Reardon and the rest of Bills Mafia will need to prepare for the worst of the cold.

"Although the lake-effect machine has been cranking recently around Buffalo, New York, no snow is in the forecast for Saturday night’s game, but bitter cold is a guarantee," Duff said. "Temperatures are expected to remain around 3-4 F throughout the game, and while there won’t be much wind, a slight breeze will push AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures below zero at times."

AccuWeather forecasters say the temperature in Orchard Park won't make it out of the single digits for a high on Saturday. A game-time temperature of 4 degrees or lower at Highmark Stadium would put the game among the top 10 coldest ever NFL playoff games, according to Stathead, a sports research database.

Accuweather graphics

A mark of 4 degrees would make it the second coldest NFL wild-card round playoff game of all time -- second only to the matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings in 2016, which was 6 degrees below zero at kickoff. Moreover, a game-time temperature below 8 degrees would make this game the second-coldest Bills home game in franchise history, behind only the 0-degree kickoff temp on Jan 15., 1994, for a playoff game against the then Los Angeles Raiders. At that point, the Bills' home venue was known as Rich Stadium.