INDIANAPOLIS — The first sign something is unique this week at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center came from the speakers.
During Wednesday’s practice, the Colts amped the usual musical accompaniment to maximum volume.
It’s Seattle week, and there’s nothing else like it.
Veteran running back Frank Gore — a member of the rival 49ers for 10 years — is one of the very few players on Indianapolis’ roster who have visited CenturyLink Field.
And he’s trying to prepare his teammates for the experience.
“Loudest stadium I’ve been to, and they feed off that,” Gore said. “They feed off that crowd. They’re a good team. The same guys since I was in San Fran, they’re still there. So they know that defense inside and out.
“We just gotta be ready and just go out there and make plays and try to quiet the crowd down.”
That could be easier said than done.
Seahawks fans set a world record — since shattered by the crowd in Kansas City — with a roar registering 142.2 decibels in 2014. That’s slightly louder than a jet engine from 100 feet.
Gore remembers the stadium physically shaking after long runs by former Seattle star Marshawn Lynch, and it’s no accident.
The structure was designed to accentuate the crowd’s noise and redirect it toward the field.
“The culture there — the 12th man — it’s unbelievable,” Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said. “When it gets rocking, that stadium shakes, and you can’t hear yourself think.”
This is the environment in which Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett will make his first career road start.
He won’t be alone among CenturyLink rookies.
By a quirk of the NFL schedule, Indianapolis hasn’t played at Seattle since 2005. Peyton Manning started that game at quarterback, and the Colts lost the Christmas Eve contest 28-13.
That Seahawks team — led by former Indy backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck — advanced to Super Bowl XL and lost to the Steelers.
Brissett faces a Seattle team Sunday that has made the playoffs for five consecutive seasons and advanced to two Super Bowls.
He’s aware of the team’s home-field advantage. But it isn’t keeping him up at night
“It’s just something we can’t control,” Brissett said. “We can’t control how loud they’ll be. So we’ve just got to go out there and play. Ignore the noise and just play our game and focus on our task.”
The most difficult element could be communication between the quarterback and the rest of the offense.
Gore said it’s impossible to hear the signal-caller when the crowd’s at full roar, and the Giants once committed 11 false starts in a game at Seattle.
The Colts were flagged four times for false starts with no crowd noise last week during a home win against the Browns.
It’s a performance Pagano said simply can’t be repeated.
“How do you (avoid) it?” Pagano rhetorically asked. “You focus. Focus. Laser focus. That’s laser with a ‘Z.’ That’s how you do it.”