Domes, home field advantage and team roster strategy

[jmt57]

Three games so far this weekend and all are in domes. It seems that the noise factor of playing in a dome has replaced cold weather as the ultimate home field advantage. In addition the rule changes and point of emphasis dicates that encourage the passing game (roughing the passer, no contact beyond five yards, any contact to a QB's head, no contact with a defenseless receiver, etc.) are all of more benefit to a team constructed to take advantage of playing indoors than they are to the strong defense/strong running game that is the strategy most cold-weather teams employ.

It used to be just a few years ago that the common wisdom was that speed/finesse teams built to take advantage of playing in a dome would never win a championship because they would fade when having to play outdoors late in the season and in the playoffs. That theory gets thrown out the window when teams wrap up a top seed early, and never play outdoors in the playoffs. That was a knock on warm weather teams like the Dolphins and Bucs for a long time, that they would fold once they had to play on the road in December and January.

My question is this: is this a one-year blip on the screen, or will the NFL playoffs primarily feature dome and warm-weather teams going forward? Is the concept of building a physical team featuring a strong running game in order to deal with bad late-season weather an outdated philosophy?

 

[ramon]

Clearly a dome can be a huge advantage or disadvantage. If the top seeded teams are non dome teams, dome teams having to play outdoors are pretty much done.

key question is can non dome teams achieve top seed status through best record. Since there are many more non dome teams than dome teams, statistically I still believe the dome teams are at a disadvantage and this year is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Speed kills, Football is a faster game indoors. A dome is favorable to a team like the Colts but its no more advantageous than playing outdoors against a power football team. The Colts were simply a better team than the Ravens and they didn't give the ball to the Ravens in their territory. The Colts would have beat the Ravens if it was in Baltimore as well. Athletes Athletes Athletes we need more of them, BB once said something along the lines of being deeper than your opponent at #1 and #53 and with guys like Matt Slater, Jonathan Willhite and Sam Aiken the Patriots wernt good enough.

 

[patriotscpfc]

Speed kills, Football is a faster game indoors. A dome is favorable to a team like the Colts but its no more advantageous than playing outdoors against a power football team. The Colts were simply a better team than the Ravens and they didn't give the ball to the Ravens in their territory. The Colts would have beat the Ravens if it was in Baltimore as well. Athletes Athletes Athletes we need more of them, BB once said something along the lines of being deeper than your opponent at #1 and #53 and with guys like Matt Slater, Jonathan Willhite and Sam Aiken the Patriots wernt good enough.

It depends where you number Slater, Wilhite and Aiken.

If they are numbers 43,44,45 then we are pretty deep on the gameday roster.

But Slater is probably 43ish with Arrington around 40. Wilhite is not an awful 4th CB. Aiken is a 4th-5th WR.

And if you are saying that Slater isn't an athlete, you are being ridiculous.

 

[jmt57]

Clearly a dome can be a huge advantage or disadvantage. If the top seeded teams are non dome teams, dome teams having to play outdoors are pretty much done.

key question is can non dome teams achieve top seed status through best record. Since there are many more non dome teams than dome teams, statistically I still believe the dome teams are at a disadvantage and this year is the exception rather than the rule.

True, there are still more dome teams than outdoor teams. I'm thinking that perhaps the rule changes (thanks Bill Polian) and directives to officials on what to call result in the desired effect of more passing, and indoor (as well as outdoor warm-weather) teams are more likely to take advantage of that than cold-weather outdoor teams.

The other part of the equation is that the noise level is louder in a dome than in an outdoor stadium. Noise is more of a factor in the passing game than in the running game, so it is possible that a loud dome crowd could have more of a negative effect on an opponent than bad weather would.

I do realize where the last two NFL champions come from, but it does seem to me that there are an unusually large number of dome teams in the playoffs this year. Is it because these teams have had a few years to react to the rule changes and change their rosters? Anomaly or a trend, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[patriotscpfc]

I think when we are #1 in the AFC, having a dome is an automatic disadvantage.

We can play football out in the snow. I think we're 106-7 in the 2 snow games over the last 2 seasons.

We technically fit the profile of a Dome team.

We throw the ball a lot.

If we had a dome, it wouldn't be as big an advantage as it is for others.

Let's face it. The Gillette just isn't loud.

 

[ramon]

By the way...not to sound old school

but watching 3 games in domes this weekend sucks!!! Takes something away from the game. It is meant to be played outdoors. I miss seeing the snow, steam coming from players as they exert themselves.
the domes makes the whole thing way too sterile.


Patriots should absolutely go back to being a physical outdoor team that can run it and stop the run.

 

[Brarrell]

The way rules have been set up to favor the offense I think you need a strong offense and a complimentary defense one that can rush the passer relentlessly. This is where the Pats have to go IMO.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Not to sound all old and preachy, but I think crowd noise has really become a factor for dome teams. I remember the Cardinals closing the dome when they hosted play-off games last season so the noise couldn't escape.

A lot of the newer facilities are huge, and pricing real fans out of the game, so you get the fair-weather crowd closest to the game, and it's hard to generate as much noise with people sipping on champagne and working on their Blackberries instead of trying to drown out a road team QB.

 

[satz]

It is not a 1 yr thing. I also believe people are a bit dillusional when we talk about pre 2006 type football.We had frozen real ground which became hard and slowed your opponents down. so now we were big and slow which played into our hands.

point is even we find dillion 2 he will very ineffective in the post season as now we have turf which is a speed surface and slow guy with power cannot get going as a speed defence will be in his before he takes 2 steps.

the whole gillette was a design flaw , the opposition offence do not even use silent counts as its more airy and the lux seats close to the field.Also the design flaw where they build a building where instead of 2 slits for sun to maintain real grass they only have the light house end facing in the wrong direction.

 

[TriplecHamp]

It depends where you number Slater, Wilhite and Aiken.

If they are numbers 43,44,45 then we are pretty deep on the gameday roster.

But Slater is probably 43ish with Arrington around 40. Wilhite is not an awful 4th CB. Aiken is a 4th-5th WR.

And if you are saying that Slater isn't an athlete, you are being ridiculous.

Obviously all of the players I mentioned are "athletes" they are on a NFL roster, but no Slater isn't a great athlete, hes not a great special teamer either and thats his primary role. Slater is not better than most teams 40's. IMO Kelly Washington is/was much better. Wilhite is not worthy of a #3 corner which he was. Aiken is a 5th wide receiver at best but he was a #2/#3 in our offense.

 

[borg]

Seems this years formula is ...good QB, good pass rush. Just so happens to be the dome teams