Returners still have to adjust to conditions indoors
The Panthers are ostensibly through the weather-game portion of their schedule, as most of their remaining games are either at home, in Florida, or indoors.
But special teams coordinator Tracy Smith noted that conditions can still change, in ways beyond the normal shifts of wind like you get in New York or Green Bay.
The Falcons have the opportunity to open the hole in the top of their roof, but even if they don't, there are conditions they have to account for.
"They all have their little personality," Smith noted of the different indoor venues. "The biggest difference for us is the color and the texture of the actual roof because our returners are looking, seeing the ball in the roof of the dome to track it. That can be challenging depending on how their lights are structured."
Smith said in the Superdome in New Orleans, the ring of lights around the top means that a punt will pass through the lights twice on the way up and down. The Falcons have the big circular scoreboard and the translucent roof, which is a lighter background for returners to look for the ball.
Last year in Atlanta, that wasn't a problem, though, since the Falcons didn't punt.
The Panthers won that shootout in overtime, and of the Falcons' 10 possessions, six ended with points scored, along with a missed field goal, a turnover on downs, an interception, and the end of the half.