HARTFORD, Conn. — The game-time temperature was 17 degrees and the 26-mph wind whipping through Philadelphia brought the wind-chill factor down to zero.
Jim Mora, coaching the Atlanta Falcons, knew he would have to brave the elements with as much exposed skin as his opponent, Andy Reid, in this 2004 NFC Championship Game against the Eagles.
“It was an incredibly cold game,” Mora. “And Andy, for years and years and years, wore the same outfit for Game Day, that windbreaker jacket. He doesn’t wear gloves. I’m like, ‘if Andy’s not going to wear a hat and gloves today, I’m not going to wear a hat and gloves today,’ so I went out essentially in the same type of clothing that he wore. And all I wanted the whole game was for him to put a dang pair of gloves on so I could put a dang pair of gloves on, because my hands were so cold. But I thought, ‘I can’t go out there all bundled up if Andy’s not going to be all bundled up, that shows weakness to my team and I’m not going to do that.’ ”
