“Cool Runnings” has now entered the lore of this game
The New Orleans Saints are going to extreme lengths to simulate what it might be like at Lambeau Field on Monday night. According to ESPN reporter Katherine Terrell, Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler spilled the beans that the team’s quarterback coach, Andrew Janocko, threw the team’s quarterbacks in a freezer to see how the dome players would react to the cold.
“This morning, Janocko took us in the cafeteria freezer, where it was like 10 degrees, and we’re just going through the whole script in there, and so just doing that, that helped a lot,” Rattler said. “So hopefully it’s not 10 degrees, but we’ll be ready.”
Per Terrell, Janocko — who coached the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears from 2015 through 2023 — got the idea from the movie “Cool Runnings,” a comedy about the Jamaican bobsled team. You can’t make this up, folks.
By all accounts, this will be a new environment for Rattler, a rookie. Rattler is an Arizona native who played at Oklahoma and South Carolina in the Big 12 and SEC, conferences hardly known for action in the snow. On top of that, the four games he’s played in this year have included three home games at the Superdome. The one road game where Rattler saw action? A trip to freezing, frigid, unbearable Los Angeles, California in October.
According to the Weather Channel, Monday night will feature temperatures around 25 degrees in Green Bay and 88 percent humidity. Snow is possible, and winds should range from 5 to 10 mph.
Good luck to the Saints, who will be out their preferred starting quarterback, preferred starting running back and number one receiver in freezing weather.