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Struggling Patriots Like the Idea of a Cold War : Weather: New England thinks it may have an edge with temperatures predicted to dip into single digits.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Jeff Feagles was born in Anaheim, went to high school in Phoenix and played football at the University of Miami. He remembers the day the Hurricanes traveled to Cincinnati for a game when the temperature was 35 degrees.

“The cold weather was all we talked about the week before,” he said. “And when we got there, we thought that was cold.”

Now, Feagles knows better. These days, 35 degrees means bring a light sweater. In Foxboro, Mass., in December, 35 is balmy.

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Feagles, a punter, signed as a free agent with the New England Patriots in 1988 and has since endured adventures to the edges of hypothermia.

“We played Tampa Bay last year and it was 25-below windchill,” he said. “Then we sent the game into overtime .

“The Patriots were 0-11 in overtime games and when we went in for the winning field goal--I was the holder last year--I just kept thinking, ‘God, I hope I can catch that thing.’ I guess I did because we won.”

Feagles lives in Phoenix in the off-season, then watches his suntan fade into the New England winter. “It’s like going from the Tropics to the North Pole,” he said, adding that it has taken him two years to get to the point where the weather is no longer a major factor affecting his performance.

The Rams, who play the Patriots in Foxboro’s Sullivan Stadium Sunday, have less than two days to get acclimated.

The Patriots, of course, would consider it delightful if the weather is frightful. The colder the better. And how about a nice little 20-knot breeze that streaks tears from your eyes and then freezes them to your face?

“This stadium is built on a hill, and the winds are brutal,” Feagles said. “Fifteen to 20 miles per hour is a good day. I’m not kidding. Plus, we don’t exactly have the greatest (artificial) turf. The turf gets hard and slick. And the ball gets hard and slick because the leather shrinks.”

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All of which should make it hard on the Rams’ slick passing attack.

If Seattle beats Washington Saturday, the Rams might find warmth in the knowledge they had already clinched a spot in the playoffs. The home-field advantage in the wild-card game will still be at stake, however, and who knows what other frozen worlds lie ahead of those who must travel through the NFL playoffs?

Let’s face it, the Rams would just as soon perform without the thermal underwear.

“I think the weather, especially if it’s bad, gives us a tremendous advantage,” Feagles said. “We don’t even think about it anymore, and I’m sure the Rams are thinking about it.

“I know we did at Miami when we went to Cincinnati.”

The Forecast: Sunny with a low of 4 and a high of 17. “Yeah, but they fire a lot of weathermen up here,” Feagles said, indicating that he is hoping for a storm.

The Line: Never bet on the Rams if you can see their breath.

Can Henry Ellard run those tricky routes on an icy field? Will Pete Holohan still make the clutch catch over the middle with numb fingers? Will Flipper Anderson be frozen out?

Eric Sievers understands the intricacies of an Ernie Zampese offense. The Rams’ passing attack was designed by Zampese, the former San Diego and now Ram offensive coordinator. Sievers, a tight end with New England, played in a Zampese offense for four seasons as a Charger and part of one season as a Ram.

He has also played in a lot of games when it was more important to put on sunscreen than gloves. But now he’s a Patriot and that has meant three sub-freezing home games in a row.

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With No. 4 coming up Sunday, Sievers said Ellard, Holohan, Anderson and Co. will be the key to the Rams’ success. . . . or, he hopes, lack thereof.

“The big thing about this kind of weather is keeping the receivers confident in their ability to catch the ball,” he said. “When your hands aren’t working well and the quarterback’s hands are cold, he’s going to be trying to get rid of the ball quicker.”

That’s just for starters. Sievers can list a litany of confidence-shakers.

“You need to get used to the texture of the ball, the feel, because the ball actually freezes. And you have to know what kinds of things you have to do to keep your hands warm. It takes time to get the right combination of hand warmers and different types of gloves to keep your fingertips from being numb.

“How the gloves hold up against the cold weather is a big thing, too. Even using the grip stuff everyone uses on their gloves to make them tacky freezes when it gets below 20 or so.

“Also, you try to catch the ball with your body whenever possible. The other problem we have up here is that when the shadows start, parts of the field are frozen.”

Ram players who plan on wearing gloves Sunday started wearing them in practice Wednesday. And Dale Hatcher punted in front of a wind machine.

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Would the Patriots have laughed--or cried--if they had watched the Rams work out this week?

“It’s been an especially cold winter,” said Patriot Coach Raymond Berry, who might just as well have been referring to his club’s record (5-10). “We’ve had more freezing weather than ever before.

“We’ve been confronted with it in practice almost every day for about a month now.”

So the Patriots get to work out with numb fingers every day.

Some advantage.

Don Hewitt remembers the days when football players used only clothing and small, hand-held butane heaters to keep their fingers from freezing.

“It was sort of like a large cigarette lighter with the flame enclosed,” said Hewitt, the Rams’ equipment manager for 23 years.

Today, the Rams will touch down at Boston’s Logan Airport with an extra ton of equipment that will help brace them against the cold. That will bring the team’s total equipment payload to 7,000 pounds. And that doesn’t even count the four huge sideline heaters they will rent to augment the two the Patriots will provide.

Both teams’ benches at Sullivan Stadium are also heated, with vents that allow warmed air to flow up around the players’ legs and buttocks.

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At least the Rams will “brave” the storm--or even a sunny, 20-degree afternoon--secure in the knowledge that they have more technology on their side.

They have chemically activated heat packets (available at your local ski shop) that warm hands, and even feet, for hours when activated. There’ll be foul-weather capes, thermal and poly-thermal underwear, tights, strap-on hand-warming pouches, 55 different types of gloves and even chic fur-lined boots for those always fashion-minded coaches, most of whom seem perfectly happy in sans-a-belt pants and polyester in warmer climes.

“We supply everything . . . except the heart and desire,” Hewitt said.

Then the player makes a choice about how much warming baggage he wants to drag around the football field for the rest of the day.

“You just have to rely on insulation,” Holohan said. “You can wear those tights things for your legs and thermal shirts underneath, but you still have to play football and there’s a fine line between staying warm and being cumbersome.”

The Rams want the Redskins to lose, of course. Then they can wear polar-bear coats and still make the playoffs.

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