A "thick fog settled into the bowl midway through" the Patriots’ 23-7 win against the Falcons on "SNF" at Gillette Stadium last night. By the third quarter, the field was "almost entirely obscured from the upper levels of the stadium." Lines on the field were "invisible to the spotters up in the booth," and several camera angles "became useless" to NBC’s broadcast. Visibility was "best down on the field, though, so the game itself was largely unaffected" (
BOSTON GLOBE, 10/23).
Patriots QB Tom Brady: "I don’t think it affected much, really, at the end of the day. I’m sure it looked cool on TV, though." Falcons QB Matt Ryan agreed it "wasn’t bad on the field." He said, "It was worse when you kind of got off and you tried to look into the stands or anything like that. You realized you couldn’t see that far" (ESPN.com, 10/23). Patriots coach Bill Belichick hinted the fog "made life difficult on Patriots spotters residing in the upper levels of the stadium." Falcons WR Julio Jones "suggested that it may have impacted the deep passing game as Atlanta was attempting its comeback" (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 10/23).
The Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay tweeted, "Are Patriots playing on Nantucket?" FS1's Colin Cowherd: "Was that a first down or a pirate ship sailing by. I can't tell." The Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw: "Hate to be negative but seems like fog in HD is pretty much just fog." Golf writer Jeremy Schilling: "Fog at @GilletteStadium is so bad that @SNFonNBC is showing game solely via SkyCam."
