Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will complete a full season of games against each other on Sunday when they meet for the 16th time in their storied careers. Like so many other matchups in Foxborough, this one could be affected by the weather.
The National Weather Service forecasts a chance of rain, with wind around 15 mph and gusts up to 35 mph. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s. Last season's matchup had similarly windy conditions, and the Broncos' offense was out of sync in the second half after building up a big lead. Bill Belichick doesn't put too much stock in early forecasts.
"If I did my job the way they do theirs, I'd be here about a week," Belichick said, never afraid to put meteorologists on blast. "Look, I'm not saying I could do it better than them, I'm just saying they're wrong a lot. That's a fact. They are wrong a lot. We all make mistakes. I'm not being critical of them. I'm just saying I don't think you go based on that."
Belichick says that a forecast two days before a game in New England is "almost always wrong" and you have to be ready for everything.
"Based on the forecasts that we have gotten so far this year, none of them were very close to what the game conditions were. There was a 100 percent chance of rain last week and the only water I saw was on the Gatorade table," Belichick said, via ESPNBoston.com.
Poor weather can't be a bad thing for the Patriots' defense, which hasn't faced anyone half as good as Peyton Manning all season. The best quarterback they have gone against is ... Jay Cutler? Tom Brady is 42-6 in games played under 40 degrees, while Manning is 8-11 in the same scenario.
New England would love to host the Broncos in a potential playoff game this year, and the Pats' only chance to do so would be to pull off an upset over Denver this Sunday.
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