NEW YORK — It appears the only thing that will prevent the Seattle Seahawks from preparing for the elements they could encounter in Sunday’s Super Bowl is … the weather.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday that the practice fields at the New York Giants facility in East Rutherford, N.J. are coated with snow and frozen. The fields were covered by tarps on Monday, when the temperature reached 40 degrees but wind gusts hit 20 mph.
Because of heavy snowfall last week and a frigid midweek forecast, the Seahawks are likely looking at multiple indoor workouts this week. The Denver Broncos, working out of the New York Jets’ facility at Florham Park, N.J., are in the same boat.
When Fox met with the media Monday, he had yet to see the facility but his support staff gave the Jets’ headquarters rave reviews. The Broncos took the measure to bring their team’s grounds crew personnel to evaluate the frozen field.
“We understand it’s a little bit of a bus ride. We get to find out. I’ve heard the facility is very good,” Fox said. “Our operations guy tells me that the guys will be complaining that it is so much nicer than ours, so he is not real excited about it. But, we are looking forward to getting out there. We’ve heard nothing but great things.”
The Seahawks practiced indoors Monday — Carroll called it a “bonus walkthrough” — but the staff will address the practicality of outdoor workouts each morning before making a decision known to the team.
Keeping the plan subject to change might be unconventional but that is, in many ways, how Carroll and general manager John Schneider built the team’s foundation.
“It’s pretty easy for us,” Carroll said. “We really don’t care about what other people think. We’re not going to be driven by what the status quo may think. We’ve really trusted our gut on decisions.
“We’ve done a lot of questionable moves that people want to know about.”
Wide receiver Golden Tate said the weather Sunday won’t be a factor.
“We’ve had a chance to practice in it, play in it, be ready,” Tate said.
The Seahawks played in MetLife Stadium on Dec. 15, a 23-0 whitewash of Eli Manning and the Giants in which Seattle had five interceptions and sacked Peyton Manning’s little brother three times. Tate said the previous victorious experience in New Jersey has been discussed.
“I definitely don’t think it hurts at all,” Tate said. “We’re familiar with the stadium, the turf … what to expect from the weather.”