Lack of Home-Field Advantage for Seattle?
In normal circumstances, the Patriots having to travel across the country to Seattle to play the Seahawks would serve as a distinct disadvantage. After all, it’s well-documented that some players are susceptible to having long plane rides impact their game.
While that still may be the case for New England, the fact that they don’t have to brave the hostile fortress that is a crowd-filled CenturyLink Field really bodes well for their chances. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Seahawks reportedly aren’t permitting fans inside the 70,000-seat stadium for their first three home games of the campaign. It goes without saying that Seattle boasts one of the premier home-field advantages in the NFL.
Back in 2013, CenturyLink Field was recorded as the loudest stadium in the league after it reached a whopping 137.6 decibels during a Monday Night Football clash against New Orleans. That record has since been taken by Kansas City, but that takes nothing away from the energy Seahawks fans bring to home games. What we have against New England on Sunday night is when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
CenturyLink Field opened for the 2002 season. Since then, Seattle has played 29 regular season home games in primetime (ninth-most in the league). In those contests, the team is a ridiculous 23-6, which equates to an NFL-best .798 winning percentage.
The difference heading into Sunday night, however, is that the Seahawks won’t have a sold out stadium making it nearly impossible for opposing teams to hear the player lined up next to them. Seattle’s rivalry with the Patriots is storied, and we are eager to see how the former fares without its ever-reliable 12th man.
