​The high in Los Angeles on Sunday is 62 degrees with a cool breeze. It's a little bit more chilly in Foxborough, MA, though. As the ​New England Patriots welcome ​Philip Rivers and the ​Los Angeles Chargers to frigid Massachusetts, the Pats wasted no time trying to psyche out the West Coast Chargers with thermometers plastered all over Gillette Stadium. The temperature? 20 degrees. The Chargers walk past this thermometer for pregame warmups. pic.twitter.com/ORCksk6VFI — Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 13, 2019 ​​Let's just say the Chargers could be a bit out of their element. Tom Brady and New England, however, feel right at home in cold and snowy weather. In his career, the Patriots have an astounding 23-4 record in outdoor games that kickoff at below freezing. Rivers, meanwhile, is 1-3 in such games. The San Mateo, CA, native Brady has produced some of his best statistical games in the snow. Anthony Lynn and company better not expect Brady to hand the ball off all game in this weather. Every time people freak out over teams throwing in the snow, I think about what Tom Brady did to one of the best defenses in football during a borderline blizzard in 2010. pic.twitter.com/40CP24aNqL — Robert Mays (@robertmays) January 12, 2019 For two teams so evenly matched on paper, it could be Mother Nature that decides the outcome of this game. ​​<doc-sep>The Chargers aren’t in Los Angeles (or San Diego, or whatever) anymore, folks. Much of the talk ahead of Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round game between the Chargers and the New England Patriots has centered around the weather. The game will be played in sub-freezing temperatures — something the Patriots seemingly felt inclined to make the Chargers aware of. And while it still feels like people are making too much of the weather, the New England winter nevertheless might be impacting Philip Rivers and Co. Check out this tweet from The Athletic’s Jeff Howe: Overheard some Chargers on the field complaining about the cold during pregame warmups. — Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 13, 2019 Make of that what you will Listen, it’s going to be cold at Gillette, and there’s no question that an LA-based team will be negatively impacted. But let’s not act like the Patriots somehow are impervious to chilly weather. Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images<doc-sep>With Los Angeles getting set to play in the frigid air of New England on Sunday, there's a good chance that everyone on the Chargers roster has already gotten to check out the ice cold forecast for the game, but just in case they haven't, Bill Belichick has placed a friendly reminder in the Chargers' tunnel of how cold it's going be at Gillette Stadium. That friendly reminder is a thermometer, and at 7:42 a.m. ET, that thermometer said that the temperature was 20 degrees in Foxborough. Classic Belichick. As you can see by the amount of duct tape used there, that thermometer isn't usually hanging on that wall. The Patriots coach is clearly trying to remind the Chargers of how cold it's going to be in this game, although they probably won't need any reminder once they step on the field. The forecast for the game is calling for a high of 27 degrees, but it's actually expected to feel colder. According to Weather.com, the temperature is going to feel somewhere between 17 and 20 degrees for most of the afternoon. It's going to be cold at Gillette Stadium. Weather.com That's going to feel like arctic conditions for a Chargers team that spent the week practicing in Los Angeles, where the temperatures were in the low-60s. Despite the fact that Belichick is having these thermometers placed in the Chargers tunnel, the Patriots coach was adamant that the weather wouldn't actually give his team any sort of advantage on the field. Belichick was even asked on Friday how big of an advantage the weather might be for his team, and he answered the question in pure Belichick fashion. "They're a good football team. We're playing the Chargers. We're not playing the weather," Belichick said. "Whatever it is, it is ... We're going to be on the same field." When it comes to the thermometers, Belichick has actually used this kind of psychological warfare before. Back in December 2017, the Patriots coach did the exact same thing before a home game against the Jets and the plan clearly worked, because New England won the game 26-6. To see if the Chargers can survive in the frigid conditions, you can watch the starting at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS or stream it for free by clicking here.<doc-sep>
Remember at the start of the week when we all thought there might be 3 to 5 inches of snow hitting Foxboro on Sunday afternoon? That was fun. But anyone who’s spent more than a day in New England knows that just because the forecast says something one day doesn’t mean the weather will follow suit. Forecast talk, however, remains a prevalent storyline ahead of the Patriots’ AFC divisional round clash with the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The flakes are unlikely to fly, but it will be chilly. The current forecast doesn’t see the thermometer breaking the 30-degree threshold all day. Some believe that will be a decided advantage for the cold-weather Patriots against a Chargers team they say will fall apart like crashing icicles after they’re plucked from the sunny comfort of Sothern California. But if the Patriots win Sunday, it will have more to do with their game plan and execution than anything Mother Nature serves up. It’s hard to believe the Chargers, who showed the mental toughness to win every single “road” game they’ve played this season, will open their weather apps Sunday morning and say “Screw this, it’s not worth a chance to play in the conference championship” and just roll over. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady does have a sparkling record in the cold. But Brady has a tremendous record in the cold, warm, snow, sun and rain. If the Patriots played their games on Mars, Brady would have a good record on Mars.