MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The forecast in Buffalo calls for below-freezing temperatures and snowfall during Saturday night's game between the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills.
But that doesn't seem to concern Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa or head coach Mike McDaniel.
"I think you expect it to be as cold and it could be five feet of snow," McDaniel told reporters Wednesday. "You know that the elements are going to be different than what we're in right now."
Tagovailoa said the climate is more mental than anything.
"It could be snowing. It could rain. I don't know," he said. "I think for me, at least, I can speak for myself, it's a mindset thing, and if I'm too focused and worried about if it's too cold, can I grab the ball, can I not, then I would say I'm focused on the wrong things. It would be hard to play that way going over there against a really good team."
Tagovailoa said he went to visit his brother, Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, in the spring, "and it was pretty cold up there."
"It was probably in the 20s and there was snow on the ground, too, so I got to test that out," he recalled. "I got to throw up there with a couple of his guys. That was good."
Tagovailoa said he "didn't feel any effects of throwing in the snow" and reminded reporters that it once snowed while he was at Alabama.
"It snowed in Alabama my first year," he said. "It snows in Alabama, guys. People don't know that. Some people just think it gets cold, but it does snow."
McDaniel said he doesn't expect the team to prepare any differently than if it were being played at Hard Rock Stadium.
"There's certain things that become harder when there's moisture or it hits a certain level of frigidness," he said. "But the good news is there's not different atmospheres on both sidelines, so we will be playing the game in the same elements."
The Dolphins (8-5) have dropped two in a row entering Saturday's game, but they beat the Bills (10-3) earlier this season. A loss to the Bills would clinch the AFC East Division title for Buffalo, but a victory would keep Miami in the hunt for a playoff spot.
