FOX NFL Sunday star Michael Strahan had a hard time speaking with Howie Long ahead of Sunday’s anticipated NFC Championship Game between the Los Angles Rams and Seattle Seahawks
Michael Strahan and the FOX NFL Sunday crew battled the noise in Seattle on Sunday(Image: FOX/NFL)
Fans at Seattle’s Lumen Field are known as the “12th Man” for the sheer magnitude of noise produced from the crowd. FOX NFL Sunday analyst Michael Strahan learned just how loud they can be during a pregame TV segment. Sunday marked FOX’s last broadcast of the season, with NBC set to broadcast the Super Bowl.
Srahan was speaking with Howie Long about how much of a struggle Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams offense will have in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against their divisional rival, the Seattle Seahawks. Eventually, Long noted that Strahan “can’t hear” him.
“You know, Rasheed Shahid made a return for a touchdown, it measured 3.2 on the Richter scale,” Strahan started, referencing Shahid’s kickoff touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers.
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“That’s how loud it gets in here. Late owner Paul Allen designed this stadium so all the sound comes back in,” he continued. “The way it’s designed… It’s an outdoor stadium, but it’s still one of the loudest — if not the loudest — in the league.”
Strahan then made an admission about his own struggles while playing in Seattle. “And I was here playing with the Giants, 11 false starts in one game,” he explained.
Seahawks fans are some of the loudest in the NFL (Image: Getty Images)
“11! because you can’t hear yourself think. I think the Rams have a veteran team; they’ve been here many times before. Quarterback, offensive line, wideouts. I don’t know if it’s gonna bother them as much as it bothered other teams in the past.
“I think they have some experience with it. But you really gonna have to rely on just knowing the cadence of your quarterback, knowing the rhythm of your offense, and really be honed in on your responsibilities.”
Strahan admitted the noise in Seattle can be defening(Image: Getty Images)
Strahan tried to wrap up his remarks, saying, “Because you can’t even simulate how it feels to be on the offense…” before he was cut off. “You can’t hear me right here,” Long stated. “No, I can’t,” Strahan admitted.
FOX color commentator Tom Brady noted last week that Shahid’s kickoff return felt like “an earthquake.” On Sunday, we told play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt how quarterbacks communicate on the road at Lumen Field.
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“A lot of the communication is in the huddle,” Brady explained. “The challenge is once you get to the line, there’s not much changing [or audibles].”
Brady only played on the road in Seattle once in his career: a 2012 loss to the Legion of Boom. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman wasn’t afraid to talk smack to the Hall of Fame quarterback postgame.
