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Week
11 poll: Best "dome-field" advantage
Keeping with this
week's featured Atlanta-Detroit matchup, our weekly poll wonders which NFL team
maintains the best "dome-field" advantage. Among the candidates:
Atlanta, Detroit, Minnesota, New Orleans and St. Louis. Scan their credentials
below before placing your vote. Also, check out our previous winners from Weeks
1-10.
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Atlanta's
Georgia Dome
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With
a capacity of over 70,000 for football, the Georgia Dome was in its
heyday during the Falcons' 1998 Super Bowl run. Playing in a dome
called the
"House of Pain," the Falcons were a perfect 8-0 at home in the
regular season, and followed that with a 20-18 playoff
win over NFC West rival San Francisco before 70,662 screaming fans on
Jan. 9, 1999. Despite suffering numerous key injuries last season,
the Falcons were still able to break even at home while winning just
one game on the road.
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Detroit's
Silverdome
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If
nothing else, the Silverdome has been a personal house of horrors for
Green Bay's Brett Favre. Typical of the difficulty that visiting
quarterbacks have in its raucous environment, Favre has tossed 20
interceptions in his last 9 games at the Silverdome. Other visiting teams
often have an equally difficult time. Last year alone, the 8-8 Lions
knocked off playoff-bound St. Louis, Minnesota, Tampa Bay and
Washington on the friendly home turf. In addition, the Lions have won
their last five NFC Central battles in Pontiac. The Silverdome will
be replaced by Ford Field (also a dome) beginning in the 2002 season.
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Minnesota's
Metrodome
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Quite
possibly the loudest of the NFL's domed stadiums, the Metrodome might
also be the most intimidating. The Vikings seem to rise to the
occasion when playing before the home folks, as evidenced by their
14-2 regular-season mark there over the last two years. The Metrodome
routinely seats 64,000-plus purple-clad supporters on Sunday
afternoons and is also home to the University of Minnesota Golden
Gophers. Accentuating the dome-field advantage is the team's blazing
speed (Randy Moss, Robert Smith, John Randle), which seems to be cranked
up a notch on the Metrodome turf.
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New
Orleans' Superdome
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The
Superdome is probably more synonymous with Super Bowls than with
Saints games, having hosted five of the sport's premier events over
the years (overall, the city has held eight of the 34 contests). But
proving all Saints team are dangerous at home, the Saints stunned the
playoff-bound Cowboys in the Superdome last Dec. 24, 31-24, to momentarily put
Dallas' postseason hopes in doubt. This year's much-improved squad is
reasserting home-field dominance and already owns double-digit
victories over Carolina and San Francisco in the Big Easy.
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St.
Louis' Trans World Dome
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Like
Minnesota, St. Louis' players might have as much to do with the
team's home-field advantage as its stadium does. But since opening in late 1995,
the Trans World Dome has quickly become one of the toughest places to
play in the NFL. The explosive Rams were 10-0 at home last year
(including the playoffs) and extended their success to Atlanta's
Georgia Dome, where they claimed Super Bowl XXXIV from Tennessee. The
lightning speed of players like Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and
Az-Zahir Hakim is almost unfair on the Trans World Dome carpet, and
65,000 Rams fans can be loud and intimidating on key
third-down plays.
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RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS
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| | | | | Note: Photos
courtesy of the Associated Press.
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