Weather is for losers.
The weather forecast for Orchard Park, N.Y. on Sunday is for a high of 42 degrees with showers. That’s about as gross as it gets.
(At least if it were a little colder, you’d get snow, which is far, far better than rain and 40.)
But Bucs coach Todd Bowles didn’t want to hear anything about the weather. Today in his weekly press conference, Bowles winced when he was asked how November weather in Buffalo might mess with the Florida-living Bucs.
“You go to Buffalo in November, you’re gonna get that weather,” Bowles said. “You come to Florida in the summer, you’re gonna get heat.
“I mean, if we worry about the weather, we’re not gonna win the ball game.”
That’s a fair point. Bucs teams in the past, when they traveled to a game and took the field, with the weather in the 50s, wearing masks, they were done before kickoff. Mentally they were checked out.
But Joe noticed something two years ago in Green Bay. Maybe the old adage of a Florida team winning in the cold of the north is dead?
Of course five years ago the Bucs went to Green Bay in the dead of a January Wisconsin winter day and outlasted the Packers to win the NFC title game.
Then, two years ago, on a day very much like what is forecast for Buffalo this Sunday, Joe saw almost the entire team head to the heated bench and looked to be buried in coats and jackets.
Except for six players. Tristan Wirfs (Iowa), Aaron Stinnie (James Madison, Va.), Robert Hainsey (Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Pa.), Cody Mauch (North Dakota State), Luke Goedeke (Central Michigan, Whitelaw, Wisc.) and Baker Mayfield (played four years in Cleveland).
All six of those guys were standing on the sidelines for 10-15 minutes before kickoff, waiting to go in, wearing no outerwear other than their white Bucs’ uniforms.
All six of those guys either were from the north or played on a team that was in the north (Mayfield). That rainy, cold northeastern Wisconsin day didn’t affect those guys one bit. They were ready to play, mentally and physically.
And the Bucs kicked the Packers’ tail up and down the field that day.
So just based on that and how Bowles has tried to mold his team to be tough, Joe doesn’t think the weather will be an issue for the Bucs at all. The Bills being an issue? Oh, yes, that’s a different story.
This team ain’t your daddy’s Bucs getting wiped out in the snow. As Wirfs told Joe after that win big win in Green Bay and dealing with the elements, “We’re cornfeds baby!”
December 1, 1985
THE LAMBEAU "SNOW BOWL"
A foot of snow falls prior to kickoff, and another half-foot falls during the game.
The #Packers outgain the tropical #Buccaneers 512 yards to 65 in a 21-0 victory — one of #NFL history's classic weather battles. pic.twitter.com/7h2LfAJBPY
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) December 1, 2023