Home-field advantage, in the most literal sense, has long been used in football. “Uglying up” one’s home turf to reduce an opponent’s advantage is often used to give one team an edge. Longer grass and/or mud slow down an opponent’s running backs, for instance.

We Viking fans seem to have forgotten the time-honored practice of manipulating field conditions for some reason…

but I had to comment on the name ‘Weather Underground.’ For those of my age, that term has a meaning completely unrelated to the weather. I was actually just a bit surprised to see that someone would choose it for an actual weather related site.

they just recently re-sodded Heinz Field. With this rain, that field is going to be slicker than ketchup on a plastic plate. (sorry). It’s going to be a mess.

that allow ap to make cuts while the defense cant sounds good to me

in that it is very hard to predict who will benefit most from a bad field, AND in that it is likely to significantly affect the outcome. But it’s going to affect it unpredictably, like a loose fumble.

Between the conditions, Winfield being out and Polamalu at less than full speed, I think this game becomes nearly impossible to predict.

I am surprisingly benign in regard to the outcome. I would be very happy with a win, but not at all crestfallen if we lose. We’re going to kill the Packers the following week either way.

            but we know that will not happen. So losing this game would not hurt us much, because it is an A.F.C. opponent. Now don’t get me wrong, I want the vikes to win every game, but I agree with Migrant lurker on this one. If we lose, so be it, lets hope the vikes can keep it competitive, and bounce back the following week to kick some packer ass.

I’m seeing a few remarks about how the weather will affect both teams equally but traditionally, if you’ve played any fast-moving sports on a grass field (Soccer, Football…) you’ll know that a wet field helps the offensive players much more for two reasons: 1. They know and perform their actions a split-second before a defender, so the defender has to react quickly but NOW he has to do so on a slippery turf, and 2. Offensive players can rely on their momentum once they’re in a straight path and don’t have to worry about ramping up speed (which also frequently leads to tumbles on slippery surfaces).

Of course both teams will get their chances on offense – so in light of this statistic, I’d take two factors into account (maybe even 3):

1. Who will have Offensive possession longer? That team may very well have an edge in this game. Hard to tell which team it might be though I’d tend to give the nod to the team with a more possession-oriented offense (Minnesota) and the better RBs (Minnesota).

and

2. Who has better statistics for turnovers and takeaway ratios? In this case it’s mostly the Vikings though it is somewhat inconclusive as the Steelers have done well in this regard, too. AND a good chunk of our stats in this regard were benefited by the awful Rams performance.

My 3rd factor is (somewhat obviously) the capabilities of their passing game against our sloppy secondary that will probably be missing Antoine Winfield. :( :( :( In this one, the edge has to go to the Steelers.

I think we SHOULD and COULD win this game but my hunch is that we do not. And like some of the other folks have been saying in here, it IS an AFC team so from my perspective, as much as I want us to win and keep our win streak alive, a loss here wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world. Though it DOES put a bit more pressure on us to beat the hated Packers (whom we really SHOULD beat even at Lambeau).

One nice benefit of this Steelers game is that it gives us a tough practice game for playing outdoors in a hostile environment the following week. Another thing to factor in for the Lambeau game (not to look too far ahead but…) is that there very well may be fans there who shockingly cheer for the Vikes and Favre, their beloved famous former QB. That could help mitigate some of the crowd’s impact if it’s a large enough percentage. :D

Anyway, enough rambling here – my prediction: Steelers 20-Vikings 17.

What a sloppy field does is slow down the game and what I mean by that is it takes away a team’s speed. I like our chances even better now because we can start Sapp and use Allen as the nickel, and both are good tacklers, which is going to be needed in this game. Shainco (spelling?) & Rice should have a good game being big targets and on the flip side so should Miller. Turnovers should only be a factor if a team is deep in their own territory. With the game slowed down I see our pass rush getting to little ben early and often being that his WRs won’t be open that quickly. Chester Taylor finally breaks out in this game. My prediction Vikings 23- Steelers 20.

would some of those 400 votes, other than nmvikesfan and Wytefang, care to try to exp-lain that POV?