When the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, they will have home field — and home weather — advantage.
The forecast for Cincinnati this weekend will be a chilly 27 degrees, which doesn’t faze the Bengals one bit. With a home stadium in Ohio, the team is used to playing in severe weather conditions.
Las Vegas, on the other hand, will want to bundle up.
The Raiders have been spoiled by playing in sunny-all-year-round conditions back when they were based in Oakland. Ever since moving to Las Vegas, the Raiders play in the indoor Allegiant Stadium which insulated them from Paradise’s average winter temps of — wait for it — 40 degrees.
Come Saturday, when the Raiders travel to Paul Brown Stadium, they’ll be in for a very icy surprise.
The high Saturday is slated to be 27 degrees.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) January 11, 2022
Zac Taylor on Monday said smiling, "it's not a disadvantage."
Derek Carr for his career in games where kickoff temp was even 37 degrees or less?
0-5, never scored more than 17 points, one game with a passer rating over 78.
Left tackle Jonah Williams is looking forward to playing in the cold, as is linebacker Logan Wilson.
LT Jonah Williams said he prefers the colder January temperatures: "This is definitely prime O-Line weather."
— Marisa Contipelli (@BengalsMarisa) January 11, 2022
"I grew up in Wyoming where I played a game below-zero so the weather isn't going to bother me on Saturday." Logan Wilson #Bengals #RuleTheJungle
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) January 11, 2022
Cincinnati Bengals hugely benefit from home field advantage in Wild Card Round
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Raiders choked — or more aptly, got cold feet — in their Wild Card matchup in Cincinnati.
Derek Carr’s record in cold weather doesn’t seem to be a coincidence: losing all five games and never scoring more than 17 points in a single game?
If frigid temperature is Carr’s kryptonite, the Bengals just might have their work cut out for them.
Throughout the 2021 season, Cincinnati’s offense has been red-hot with Chase, Boyd, and Higgins all getting looks in the end zone. And the team arguably had its best offensive performance a little over a week ago against the Kansas City Chiefs at home in Cincinnati.
In the chilly early January air, Joe Burrow threw for 446 yards and four touchdowns and Joe Mixon added a respectable 46 yards on the ground.
Las Vegas is already entering the game as the 5.5-point underdogs, and their starters will have significantly less rest than Burrow and other Bengals players who sat out in Week 18.
Anything can happen in the playoffs, and each team will want to hold onto any advantage they can get. When it comes to weathering the elements, though, Cincinnati has Las Vegas beat.
The Bengals aren’t known for being an obnoxious team, but we wouldn’t put it past them to show up to the game in T-shirts and shorts just to mess with Derek Carr. Let the mind games begin.