It has been raining, HARD, for the past 12 hours or so, and at least some part of the day for the past four days.  The question is, does this work for or against the Seahawks this afternoon, or is it not a factor at all?

At home, the Indianapolis Colts are an indoor team, used to "perfect" weather when they play there--no sloppy, muddy or snowy fields; minmal danger of slipping and falling from same; no precipitation clouding the vision; and a pretty constant temperature.

Even if it stops raining by game time (and, for some mysterious and miraculous reason, it always seems to--the Hawks haven't had a serious rainy day game here since the home opener in QWest Field in 2002), the Field Turf artificial surface will still be at least somewhat wet and slippery (the temperatures, though, are supposed to be downright tropical at 57 degrees for today's high). The wind is also supposed to be blowing from the south at somewhere between 12 MPH (if you believe the Weather Channel) to  35 MPH (if you believe the local TV meterologist), so let's take an average and say about  23 MPH. 

And, of course, we have to factor in the Hawks' 12th man, AKA the fans. Now that they have sufficient provocation (i.e. home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and a team that has been playing like they finally mean it this year), look for the decibel level to rise even more at QWest Field (if such is possible--look at how rattled the Giants got by the noise level). Add to this the fact that the Hawks have a 21-4 home record since the end of 2002 (the only other team with as sterling a record--you guessed it, the three time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots). All in all, this would seem to add up to somewhat tricky and/or hazardous environmental conditions at game time of 1:00 pm PST.

That said, if you are Indianapolis' Acting Head Coach Caldwell, you probably have a few things swimming around in your head right now (pun intended): you want to respect Coach Dungy's instructions to the team that they are to "play on" and forge ahead without him, just as if he were there; and the fact that Peyton is still a little banged up from last week and so are quite a few of his teammates.

The first factor is pretty much uncontrollable. These men are a family and, though they will try to go out and win one for the coach, it is almost humanly impossible to put such a senseless and tragic death in the family completely out of your mind so that you can focus totally on your job (I know, I've been there and, try as you might, it just doesn't go away). And, while Coach Holmgren has said that it is going to be "awkward" coaching against the Colts today, he is going to do just that.

Which brings the second issue into play. Since they still DO have something to play for, and since they, like everyone else, have thoroughly studied the films of what the Chargers did to the Colts last week, the Hawks are coming into the game playing to win, and playing hard. So, how long does Coach Caldwell leave his "top of the rotation" starters in? If I'm him (though I'm not, obviously), about long enough for them to feel like they have contributed, but then I sit them for safety's sake, though that may be a little hard for some of them to swallow.

It's still going to be a hard fought game, but I think that the advantage is on the Seahawks' side today. I look for them to win in regulation, and by at least a TD.