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Many of you love fantasy sports, especially football. I mean, heck, 41.5 million people played it this year alone. With respect to all other sports, lets face it, fantasy football is the real fantasy sport.
Even I get it. The two years I did it, I enjoyed it and it took up little of my time (even though I was incredibly bad). Well, with the fantasy football playoffs beginning this week for many leagues, we here at Wx Or Not have decided to begin a Fantasy Football forecast! Hopefully many of your players play in domes, or at least know how to prepare for the conditions.
What I will do is give the game, the time and then a bit of commentary on the game itself. The link that is within the game title itself is a link to the nfl.com preview. Then I will give a brief overview of why I made the forecast I did. The gametime forecast will then follow, and I will have scale of 1-10 on the odds that the weather significantly impacts your players (1 being the least and 10 the most).
Thursday, December 11th
Atizona @ St. Louis; 7:25 pm CST: Hey, my team won for once last week! The Rams had a stellar 24-0 win over the Redskins last week, and that pumps me up. Its a small victory in the grand scheme, as Arizona is likely gonna destroy them. But hey, the Cardinals only won by 3 last week, so if you do the math….Hahaha. Sports doesn’t work like that, sadly.
St. Louis is….actually a dome! I did not know that until about 35 seconds ago. This is an exciting revelation that has me like….
(h/t giphy.com)
Anyways, a lot of the dome forecasts are dependent on the fans. The fans can influence the atmosphere in that dome if they so choose. However, I highly doubt that any Rams fan other than me is thinking about that. So, this forecast should be simple.
Gametime Forecast: Bright lights and some nervous rookies. This will be a good test for the Rams’ ground crew, and we’ll see if they can set a good temp optimal for Rams success. Weather impact: 0/10.
Sunday, December 14th
Green Bay @ Buffalo; 12 PM CST: Well, I knew that Buffalo would lose last week. I just had a feeling (they went up against Peyton Manning, come on). However, they put up a tough fight and tried to comeback at the end. Green Bay just took care of business, even in the snow. I am personally rooting for Buffalo because of the fact that their city name is basically equivalent to the name of their team. But Randall Cobb…
(h/t giphy.com)
Who cares. Its Buffalo, they’re probably gonna lose. However, weatherwise, Buffalo is gonna be on the cold side of a surface high pressure This means lighter winds from the north, and cooler temperatures during the game. There looks to be abundant low level moisture, so expect some clouds across the region.
Gametime Forecast: 35ºF, with mostly cloudy skies. Light winds from the west around 5-10 mph. Weather impact: 3/10 because of cooler conditions.
Jacksonville @ Baltimore; 12 PM CST: Baltimore won in the awesome conditions that resided over south Florida last week, but will not see the same conditions this week. However, beating Jacksonville is basically an understood. Oh well, maybe next year, Jags.
Weather wise, Baltimore will be under the same high pressure as Buffalo, but will likely see temps being a bit warmer with winds being a bit higher. Additionally, they will likely see some partly cloudy skies with moisture in the atmosphere being in and out.
Gametime Forecast: 43ºF, with partly cloudy skies. Winds out of the northwest at around or a bit above 10 mph. Look for a bird or two in the sky, but the majority of them will be on the field. Weather impact: 1/10.
Cincinnati @ Cleveland; 12 PM CST: Ah, yes. My two favorite teams to hate on. Andy Dalton is still the most overpaid employee of all time, and Cleveland is…well, Cleveland. Hey, at least they have LeBron. I’ll take overpaid employee in this one, though.
All three of the first Sunday games have been in the east, which makes forecasting for them a bit boring. It’s like they’re all under the same dome because of the high pressure system. Nevertheless, expect temps in the lower 40s, and some clouds as humidities within the lower levels of the atmosphere are looking higher.
Gametime Forecast: Looking like a temperature of around 41ºF, and mostly cloudy skies. Winds out of the west to west-southwest 5-10 mph. Little chance of precip. Weather impact: 2/10. Impact being of having to bear the city of Cleveland: 80/5.
Tampa Bay @ Carolina; 12 PM CST: This may be an even more interesting game than the battle of the Ohio teams. Yes, this is a battle within the worst division in all of football: the NFC south. It is awful. This game may be so bad that it’ll be good. It’d be like watching the 76ers and Knicks play, or like watching paint dry….
(h/t giphy.com)
Good news for Tampa Bay: Cam Newton won’t be playing.
At least this won’t be a similar forecast to the ones above. They’ll still be under the influence of high pressure, but it won’t be that chilly. Under sunny skies, it is looking like temps will rise into the low to mid 50s, with lighter winds. Hey, someone has to have a nice weather game.
Gametime Forecast: 54ºF, with mostly sunny skies and very little chance of precip….or a good game. Weather impact: 1/10.
Houston @ Indianapolis; 12 PM CST: Finally! A game that looks like it is completely worth watching. Two of the best players in the NFL will be lining up within 2 yards of each other on every snap that Indianapolis has the ball. JJ Watt and Andrew Luck will be one heck of a match up, and I am going with the Texans in this one.
(h/t giphy.com)
Weatherwise, it doesn’t matter. Indianapolis will actually be seeing mostly cloudy skies, with light winds and temps in the mid to upper 40s outside, but because its inside, it doesn’t matter!
Gametime Forecast: Bright, and hot. There will be two stars on the field, so temps could approach 90,000ºF.
Oakland @ Kansas City; 12 PM CST: Finally, a Sunday game west of the Mississippi river. This one should be a world ender. KC is actually not having that hot of a season, but much like Jacksonville, losing to the Raiders is an anomaly. It has only happened a couple times this year. You know its bad when they pour Gatorade on the coach…
Kansas City will be under the influence of a low pressure system to their west, and will see clouds only increase as the game goes on. They could be the windy game of the day, with winds approaching 15 mph at times from the south. Because of the southerly flow, I’m gonna go a degree or two above the guidance.
Gametime Forecast: 57ºF with mostly cloudy skies. Temps will rise throughout the game, but precip doesn’t look likely until that night. Winds 10-15 mph from the south. Weather impact: 4/10 because of the wind.
Miami @ New England; 12 PM CST: Miami is being forced to leave their warm, humble abode in south Florida for a cooler Boston, MA. That isn’t a fair trade. It also isn’t fun having to face Tom Brady, either. That is pretty much the reason that the Pats win this game.
Overall, the region will be under the influence of an exiting low pressure system, and will have to deal with chilly, northwesterly winds. Temps should only be in the upper 30s or lower 40s for gametime, and shouldn’t rise much thereafter. Low level moisture will be limited, so expect some clouds, but not too many.
Gametime Forecast: 39ºF with partly cloudy skies. Winds out of the northwest at 5-10 mph. Precip should be limited across the area. Weather impact: 2/10.
Washington @ New York (Giants); 12 PM CST: Well, this is another bad game in week 15. There have been a couple of those already. The Giants do have an awesome player, and Eli Manning is decent as well. I would think they pull this one out, but the score won’t be too high.
Similar to the other 6 million east coast games we have this week, this game will be influenced by the a high pressure system moving in. Precip will be minimized, but there should be partly sunny skies with some more low level moisture in the atmosphere. At this point, forecasting for these east coast games makes me feel like number 55 here…
Gametime Forecast: 41ºF with partly sunny skies, and winds out of the northwest at 5-10 mph. Expect the unexpected, as that is what the Giants are best at. Weather Impact: 2/10.
Pittsburgh @ Atlanta; 12 PM CST: Another dome game!!
(h/t giphy.com)
Its not that I don’t like forecasting for actual weather events, its just that I like to sometimes take a break and have fun with the forecast. This should be a blow out. Absolutely. Atlanta is in the worst division in football, and they just aren’t up to par at this point. 5-8 doesn’t cut it (unless you’re in the NFC South, of course).
So, the weather should be crazy. You could do so many cool things in a dome. They could make it snow, rain, you name it, they could probably do it. I wish they would just literally make it rain cats and dogs. That’d be pretty sweet. Nevertheless, expect birds. As in Falcons. As in the Atlanta Falcons.
Gametime Forecast: Who knows. They can do whatever. I’m gonna call for a 100% chance of a touchdown. That’ll boost my verification numbers! Weather impact: 0/10.
Denver @ San Diego; 3:05 CST: Well, it doesn’t get much better than this. Forecasting fore San Diego is like forecasting for south Florida, only maybe a bit better. It’s awesome. Plus, you can’t go wrong with these teams. Both are good teams that could be contenders come playoff time. Peyton Manning will get his groove back, and prove to be too much for the Chargers of San Diego, who also have a cool logo and share a city with Ron Burgundy. Maybe Manning will start rapping again.
(h/t giphy.com)
California as a state isn’t seeing the best weather this week, but San Diego is looking at the best weather game of the week. Look for mostly sunny skies, and temps in the low 60s. Maybe they should just simulate the game and just take a day to relax.
Gametime Forecast: 61º, and mostly sunny. Winds will be light, humidity low, and Peyton Manning is sure to steal the show (I wanted to rhyme). Weather Impact: 0/10.
NYJ @ Tennessee; 3:05 PM CST: We have come to the worst game of the week by far. There are bad teams, and then there is a game of bad teams. This is it. One of these teams has to win 3 games because they are playing each other. Unless they tied. If this game tied at 0-0, I would freak out. Maybe because Rex Ryan would explode, or maybe because Tennessee just is great. Who knows.
This will be a tricky forecast as much of the guidance is split on this one. It is dependent on whether or not Nashville has thicker clouds. I am gonna go with temps in the lower 50s and partly sunny skies. Winds will be out of the south, but will be lighter.
Gametime Forecast: 51ºF, with some clouds. Winds will be in the range of 5-7 mph, and precip won’t be an issue. What will be is getting one of these teams to play well. Weather Impact: 3/10.
Minnesota @ Detroit; 3:05 PM CST: Detroit and Cleveland are basically the same entity. They both have a star play in a sport (Miguel Cabrera and Megatron in Detroit; LeBron in Cleveland) and they are both worse than Indiana.
If that doesn’t say it, then I don’t know what does. Minnesota isn’t great, either (they do have 10,000 lakes, Adrian Peterson and Prince). Look at it this way: Matthew Stafford to Megatron is a god play call, and is the reason they win Sunday.
Weatherwise….its another dome. The biggest impact that anything related to the weather could have is the way the grass is cut, and even that is fake. Sigh.
Gametime Forecast: Some temperature. A downpour of touchdowns. A flurry of points. A shower of sweat. A hailstorm of dropped passes. Megatron.
San Fransisco @ Seattle; 3:25 PM CST: Maybe this should be the game of the week. It would be, if the 49ers had beaten the Raiders. But, unlike 11 of the 13 teams Oakland has played this year, they didn’t. Based on that premise, San Fransisco shouldn’t even be allowed to play in this game. Oh well. Seattle by 1 million.
Seattle looks to be in between storms during this time, allowing for cool, but good football conditions. Temps should be in the low to mid 40s, with surprisingly sunny skies. That is odd this time of year!
Gametime Forecast: 45ºF, with mostly sunny skies. Winds should be light as Russell Wilson destroys the 49ers.
Dallas @ Philadelphia; 7:30 PM CST: Now THIS is the game of the week. I hate the Cowboys, but have to admit that they are really good. This game likely has significant playoff implications as both of these teams are really good, but aren’t as good as Seattle. No one is that good. No one.
Philadelphia will be in the same boat as many eastern US games: cooler and dry. Temps should be in the mid to upper 30s at gametime and fall from there.
Gametime Forecast: 37º with partly cloudy skies. Winds will be from the northwest at 5-10 mph. Expect blizzard of rushing yards. Weather Impact: 2/10.
Monday, December 15th
New Orleans @ Chicago; 7:30 PM CST: Well, both of these teams lost last week, and one of them has to win. So, maybe Drew Brees will do something cool. Or maybe a breeze of anxiety will hit him and he’ll play badly. Either way, there will likely be two kinds of breeze in this one.
(I’m so punny. h/t giphy.com)
There will likely be clouds increasing through the night, with temperatures not falling all that much throughout the game. It also looks like there will be some light showers that come in during the game, so watch for that.
Gametime Forecast: 45ºF, with a 50% chance of rain showers. Winds out of the south between 5 and 10 mph. Weather Impact: 5/10 due to rain.
That does it for this week. Overall, not too many insane weather events looking to impact the games. If only there was one significant snow event or heavy rain or something. Just give me something interesting to forecast for these games! Either way, be weather aware when choosing which players to field in your fantasy games this week and which to not. Weather effect everyone, WxOrNot you are ready for it.