The commissioner declined to say Friday whether he would stop the Vikings from playing a taped announcement during the game that thanks the crowd for its support but asks fans to lower the noise level when the Vikings are on offense.
Some players say crowd noise is interfering with pre-snap calls and signals.
Certainly no one expects that the crowd's going to cheer equally for the invader as it does for the home-team defender, but within reason some sense of balance is what we seek. Noise measurements at the Metrodome have reached 130 decibels this season, fueled mainly by music on the public address system. While the music is turned off after a team breaks the huddle, fans sometimes continue to cheer loudly in the moments before the ball is snapped.