There’s something of a stigma around either playing NFL games either at home or away. When a team is out on the road, they don’t have quite the support they’d like to get behind them as they play. They may also have to make a long journey to reach the venue of the hosting team and, once they arrive, sleep in a hotel rather than in the comfort of their own beds.
This is much different to playing in the home stadium. Players are closer to their supporters and homes, and don’t have far to travel, so a long journey can’t take its toll on them out on the grid. Playing at home is perceived as an advantage, and the expectation is that the home team will win. Foxborough, the home town of the New England Patriots, is one location teams have traditionally hated visiting because they always seem to be on the losing side. If you’re studying NFL odds and the Patriots are the home team, you might fancy placing a bet on them to win.
Below is a look at some of the teams that best perform at home, at some of the teams that play poorly at home and at possible reasons for their lousy home performance.
Playing well at home
Some teams make better use of being the home team than others. Here are some NFL teams that make visiting teams feel less than welcome when the referee blows the starting whistle:
New England Patriots
As mentioned up above, the New England Patriots have built a formidable reputation for playing well at home. Teams who come to the Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, know the Patriots won’t go easy on them just because they’ve had a long journey.
Even before the days of Tom Brady and legendary coach Bill Belichick, the team had a strong, loyal fanbase that drives them on every game. The team go on to decimate visitors.
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are another team who aren’t just going to let teams march into their home stadium and have it all their way. The team have been defending their stadium, Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, fiercely since 1957.
Just like the Patriots, the Packers have a loyal fanbase. In fact, one time more than 66 000 fans showed up to a practice early in training camp.
Denver Broncos
Any team that has to head to the Empower Field at Mile High, in Denver, Colorado, can expect a tough game. For a start, the natural altitude of 5,282 feet about sea level is much higher than the one to which a lot of visiting teams will be accustomed.
Only the Broncos themselves have the time to get used to the altitude of their home stadium. Playing at the higher altitude leaves opponents short of breath as the air is thinner. It’s why the Broncos have been notoriously difficult to defeat at their home stadium.
Teams that play poorly at home
Not everyone has the good track record at home of the teams above. Here are some teams visitors might fancy their chances of beating in their own backyard, plus why this might be the case:
Arizona Cardinals
Teams might just be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of visiting the State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona. The Arizona Cardinals have long struggled at home and can’t find a cure for this seemingly eternal Achilles heel. Even this season, they’re struggling, as a 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles showed.
The pressure the team feels now to secure points in front of their home crowd is mounting and is surely at the back of their players’ minds as they head out on to the grid. The fact that some teams have a huge following that show up in large numbers for away games as well as home games will also heap on the psychological pressure. The Eagles fans, for instance, made their presence felt and even seemed to outnumber the Cardinals’ own home crowd.
Detroit Lions
The Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, in Detroit, Michigan, is another stadium at which visiting teams are likely to feel comfortable they can dish out a defeat to the home side. In 2021, the Lions achieved their first win at home in 365 days, and that wasn’t easy as the team had failed to hold onto the lead.
This hasn’t been the only huge indicator of their struggles at home, however. In 2008, the team experienced the embarrassing feat of being the only team in the NFL to not win a game the whole season. Even in 2021, there was talk of not winning a game all season as the team reached 0-8 wins.
What is certain is that the Lions struggle to hold onto the lead. They capitalize on the advantage of being the home team, but somehow left comfortable leads slip away from them. Their victory over the Washington Commanders, in which they broke a losing-at-home streak, was one example: they finished 30-27 after going 21 points ahead.
Playing at home should be an advantage, as teams have more of their fans on their side to cheer them (in theory) and don’t have to travel as far. However, not all teams are able to make the most of the advantage. Changes in strategy could go a long way to eventually delivering a win in front of the home crowd though.