The NFL announced Friday that Sunday's AFC Divisional Round playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs will be moved from 1:05 p.m. ET to 8:20 p.m. ET due to inclement weather.
NFL public relations representative Brian McCarthy tweeted the following statement regarding the decision, which was made due to an impending ice storm:
Brian McCarthy @NFLprguySunday's #PITvsKC game moved to 8:20p et start
On Sunday, NFL senior vice president of communications Natalie Ravitz confirmed that the game will proceed as scheduled:
Natalie Ravitz @NFLNatalieTonight's #PITvsKC game on @nbc will move forward as announced at 8:20pm ET. Full statement here:
The second-seeded Chiefs will host the contest at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
With the game between the Steelers and Chiefs moving to prime time, the NFC Divisional Round matchup pitting the Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys will be Sunday's first game at 4:40 p.m. ET.
In addition to the change of the start time, the weather could potentially act as an equalizer in terms of slowing down Pittsburgh's high-octane offense.
The Steelers ranked seventh in yardage and tied for 10th in scoring during the regular season, while the Chiefs were 20th and 13th in those categories, respectively.
Despite the home-field advantage, Kansas City needs every possible edge it can get, as it hasn't won a playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium since the 1993 season, per Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network:
Aditi Kinkhabwala @AKinkhabwalaLast time #Chiefs won a home playoff game, opponent was #Steelers. QB was Joe Montana, RB was Marcus Allen and Artie Burns wasn't born.
The Steelers handed the Chiefs one of their only four losses during the regular season in Week 4 by a score of 43-14 in Pittsburgh.
OddsShark lists the Steelers as a 1.5-point underdog as the road team for Sunday's contest.
