The Steelers and Chiefs will have their Divisional Round Playoff game played in prime time as opposed to Sunday afternoon due to the ice storm bearing down on the Kansas City area.
The league announced Friday afternoon that the time of the game was pushed back due to weather and safety concerns.
Pittsburgh was already going to have to deal with the crowd in one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL and now the Chiefs fans will have a few more hours to get lubed up prior to kick off. Does the time change for the move from the afternoon to prime time benefit Kansas City or Pittsburgh more?
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An NFL Reddit table lists the records of all 32 NFL teams and the Steelers have quite a lot more experience playing in prime time than the Chiefs. Since 2006 (when NBC started airing the Sunday Night Football games) Pittsburgh is 28-16 in prime time and 14-10 on Sunday night in particular.
On the other hand, Kansas City is 6-8 in prime time and 0-4 on Sunday nights.
With the inconsistent ways Pittsburgh, and Ben Roethlisberger in particular have played on the road this season they can use all the help they can get.
What does the change in game time help? Well the team that is affected the most is the home team. The team traveling is already out of their routines so a change in game time won’t change their routine up that much.
If the Chiefs fans have extra time to get lubed up prior to game time that makes them extra rowdy and potentially worse to deal with than an earlier crowd. Perhaps the weather warning with this ice storm could slow down the tailgates, though.
Pittsburgh just played in a brutally cold game last week and they’ve played in everything from rain to snow and Florida humidity this season. Taking the crowd out of the game early could be a huge difference maker.
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The team altered their plans to depart Pittsburgh a couple of hours earlier than they usually leave for road games. Let’s hope everyone arrives safely and the change works out for the Black & Gold.
Here we go Steelers! Here we go!