Ravens fans who came to M&T Bank Stadium Sunday for the Ravens-Falcons Week 16 game can say they were part of history.
The official recorded temperature at kickoff of the Ravens-Falcons Christmas Eve game is 17 degrees, with a wind chill of two degrees.
It "surpassed" a New Years Eve game in 2017 against the Cincinnati Bengals. The temperature at kickoff for that game was 19 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel like 10 degrees.
The Ravens gutted out a 17-9 victory in those conditions, securing their postseason spot.
"How about all the fans that came to the game today? It's Christmas Eve day, it's zero degrees," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "It's not exactly ideal outdoor sport weather, unless you're an ice fisherman or something."
The Ravens' running game dominated as Baltimore piled up 184 rushing yards, including 99 from Gus Edwards.
"I'm from New York. I'm kind of used to these games, but whatever comes you've got to be prepared for it," Edwards said. "We had no choice but to run the ball today. A lot of guys don't want to tackle in those conditions, and we did a good job doing that."
Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley said he keeps 10 hand warmers in his belly pouch. He threw the ball just 17 times compared to 34 runs. Baltimore's defense kept the Falcons out of the end zone. Players said the cold didn't really have an impact on the game, but it certainly made it more of a grind-it-out slugfest.
"I heard a couple of guys talking about the storm. I thought it would actually be a little colder than what it was, but when you have those heated benches and then you have your Vaseline, everything like that, it's pretty good normally," linebacker Roquan Smith said.
Multiple Ravens played with no sleeves on. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey took it a step further, going shirtless for pregame "warm-ups."
