NFL Wild Card weekend had a variety of ups and downs for various teams around the league. Whether it was the Dallas Cowboys’ unexpected loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Cincinnati Bengals’ first playoff win in 31 years, or the Arizona Cardinals’ collapse against the Los Angeles Rams, the weekend was full of unexpected surprises – both good and bad.
Another significant area of fluctuation over the weekend was in the kickoff temperatures which, from a statistical perspective, possessed an immense standard deviation from the mean. The Los Angeles Rams kicked off against Arizona at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California at approximately 63 degrees Fahrenheit, albeit in a partially-enclosed stadium. But for the Buffalo Bills, at the open-air Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, their game versus the New England Patriots began at 7 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there was a wind chill making it feel as if it was negative five.
Barrett Sports Media’s Andy Masur recently wrote an article on broadcasting in the cold, something that Nashville’s JMart and Ramon took notice of and asked their guest, CBS Sports play-by-play Announcer Ian Eagle about at the top of their interview Thursday on 104.5 The Zone.
Jason Martin, co-host of the morning drive program, first reminisced with Eagle about his time calling games in cold temperatures.
“You were wearing the Kurt Warner jiffy-pop jacket on Saturday, and it reminded me of calling a high school game and standing on the roof in an ice storm and my mouth locking up in the second half,” said Martin. “There were words I wanted to say that my mouth would not allow me to utter, so it seems like that’s what you and [Charles Davis] experienced in Buffalo.”
Eagle concurred with Martin’s view of the situation and spoke about how he had to change his announcing style in order to ensure that he would be able to complete the game, which ended in a 47-17 “beatdown” victory for the hometown Bills.
“In the third quarter, I started shivering and I thought to myself, ‘All right. I can handle this.’ But once it made its way to my face, I had no other options,” explained Eagle. “There were a couple of times [where] I just cut my call off quicker and earlier than I normally would because I didn’t think I would get the words out. So instead of giving the tackler on a specific play, I was like: ‘You know what. I’m out. I’m good. He made the catch. That’s all I need to say. Let me live to see another play.'”
Upon returning home to New Jersey following the game, Eagle detailed his continuing struggle with cold temperatures, despite temperatures in “The Garden State” not being nearly as cold as those in upstate New York.
“You get… PTSD after the fact,” said Eagle. “I walked out yesterday to grab lunch and I’m like ‘Oh my goodness! I’ll go back in. Let me get another layer.'”
Eagle and Davis will both be on the call once again for Saturday’s divisional round matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tennessee Titans from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. Temperatures will hit a high of 40 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 24 degrees, with kickoff at 4:30 p.m. expected to be at around 34 degrees. Normally, that would be a disappointment for Eagle in traveling to a location partially known for its warmer temperatures. But this time…
“I’m psyched!” exclaimed Eagle. “I am pumped up for Nashville, trust me.”
