The weather outside is frightening, or rather a typical Pittsburgh day in January. The temperature should be in the mid-20s this afternoon and into the evening, which brings up the classic debate: How does it affect a warm-weather team such as the San Diego Chargers?

The Chargers have won both of their playoff games here in January -- when it was 33 degrees at kickoff on Jan. 9, 1983, and when it was 60 degrees at kickoff for the AFC championship on Jan. 15, 1995.

The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Steelers at Heinz Field in a playoff game Jan. 5, 2008, when it was 39 degrees at kickoff.

Miami came to Three Rivers Stadium the week after the Immaculate Reception in 1972 for the AFC championship. The Dolphins won on New Year's Eve when it was 63 degrees at kickoff.

San Diego will have no such luck by getting any San Diego-like weather today, but will it affect the Chargers, and why? Surely, players such as tight end Antonio Gates, a Detroit native who went to Kent State, know about playing in cold weather. Darren Sproles is from Kansas and played at Kansas State.

Former Steelers safety Mike Logan is a McKeesport native who played at West Virginia, but played the first half of his NFL career for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He said the cold does affect players on a warm-weather NFL team, mostly in their minds in the week before the game.

But the Steelers practiced indoors this week, so what's the difference? In the old days before their indoor facility, they had no choice.

Jerome Bettis, a Detroit native who played in Los Angeles his first two seasons in the NFL, once told me the difference is that players in cold-weather towns get used to the temperature. They walk to and from their cars, scrape the ice off them in the parking lots, etc., and their bodies and minds are naturally prepared.

It may all be bunk. The Dallas Cowboys nearly beat the Packers in Green Bay in the old Ice Bowl. Yet an enduring image from that game was Dallas receiver Bob Hayes, a Jacksonville native, shivering with his hands down the front of his pants while split wide on the line of scrimmage.

Chuck Noll used to refuse to have any kind of heaters or the now-prevalent hot-seat benches on his sideline at home, even as the visitors kept warm across the way. Noll believed that if there were heated benches on his sideline, that is where his players might prefer to be. He wanted their heads in the game and not longing for that comfy seat on the bench.

Rashard Mendenhall, where art thou? That's what some of his teammates want to know. The Steelers' No. 1 draft pick last April has been seen only on occasion by them since his shoulder was broken in the fourth game of the season.

At first, doctors thought he might need surgery but they later diagnosed that it would heal with proper rehabilitation. By all accounts, he's doing that. But his teammates would like to see him more often, and he does live here. "Out of sight, out of mind," one of them said.

Others on injured reserve have been around the team's facility all season, most notably veteran quarterback Charlie Batch, who is in the locker room daily. Punter Daniel Sepulveda, whose ACL was torn in training camp, is around often, as is long-snapper Greg Warren, tight end Jon Dekker and linebacker Arnold Harrison, as examples.

Mendenhall, though, has not been seen much by his teammates. He's not required to be there, but the Steelers have plenty invested in him, not only in money but perhaps the future of their running game. He cannot play and cannot practice, but he could have been learning in their team meetings and even getting to know his teammates a little by coming around once in awhile.

At last, Dermontti Dawson will have his day in the room. The great Steelers center became one of the 15 modern-day finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past week in his fourth season of eligibility.

All of the votes until now were done by mail ballot from the 44 selectors on the board, of which I am one. But we will gather in a room for 4-5 hours in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 31 to discuss and debate the candidates, including two seniors, and then vote to select the 2009 class. That discussion is important for Dawson because there are no stats for an offensive lineman, and the only thing voters had to go on until now was their knowledge or any research they might have done.

It may be heresy around these parts, but I was told many times by others, even during Dawson's playing days, that he was a better center than Iron Mike Webster, who is in the Hall of Fame. That's no knock on Webby, but a tribute to Dawson's skills. Centers often get help with a double-team, especially when they played over a nose tackle. Rarely did the Steelers have to double-team Dawson's man, which freed up others to block elsewhere. He was so quick, he often trap-blocked and could be seen leading sweeps around the end.

Dwight Stephenson, the great Miami Dolphins center in the Hall of Fame, made All-Pro five times in the 1980s and was in five Pro Bowls. Dawson made All-Pro six times in the 1990s and made seven Pro Bowls.

Rod Woodson should be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was a great cornerback and then played for three other teams after the Steelers and became a great safety. But Dermontti Dawson dominated his position every bit as much as did Woodson.