JERSEY CITY—The Seattle Seahawks surrendered one of their biggest Super Bowl advantages Monday. They practiced indoors.

Both the Seahawks and their championship-game foes, the Denver Broncos, are residing in Jersey City hotels ahead of Sunday's game. But the Broncos have the worse game-week setup of the two teams. Every day, they must hop on a bus and make the 35-minute schlep to Florham Park, N.J., to practice at the Jets' training facility there.

By contrast, the Seahawks—as the NFC champions—are taking over the Giants' practice facility. Not only is it less than 20 minutes away, but it is also just a few hundred yards from MetLife Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLVIII.

The Seahawks could be more familiar with the weather patterns of the MetLife Stadium come Sunday. That is, if they ever decide to leave the building.

"We did not go outside today," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after practice Monday.

The Broncos, by contrast, practiced outside, which keeps both sides in line with the philosophies of their respective host teams. While Giants coach Tom Coughlin moved most practices indoors when the weather turned nasty in the regular reason, Jets coach Rex Ryan kept his team outside unless the fields were frozen over, because he liked to simulate game conditions.

"It's an opportunity to practice in bad weather," Ryan said earlier this season.

Monday's temperatures, which hovered around 40 degrees, are similar to the forecasted weather for Sunday's game. Carroll didn't explain why his team didn't go outdoors, but he said in a Sunday news conference that he would like to go outside if the snow on the fields melts.

"We'll figure that out on a day-to-day basis," Carroll said Sunday. "We like to get out when we can. We'll have to see if it's available to us."

Here's where the Broncos, despite their longer work commute, may have an advantage. The Giants and Jets each have a full-size, indoor field made of synthetic turf. The Jets also have one full-size synthetic-turf field outside, which doesn't freeze and become hard and dangerous to play on. But the Giants have only one miniature synthetic-turf field outside. Most of their outdoor practice area is grass.

Seahawks tight end Zach Miller said he doesn't think the lack of outdoor practice time before the first cold-weather Super Bowl will be an issue.

"We practice outside as much as we can when we're back home in Seattle, so I think we'll be OK with whatever the conditions are," Miller said. "Obviously it's going to be a little colder than we're used to, but we've got some cold days out there in Seattle, too. I don't think we're too worried about it. If it snows, it snows, and I think it will make the game more fun."

Carroll said the Pacific Northwest has provided the Seahawks with enough bad-weather experience.

"We play in an area that has somewhat inclement weather occasionally, and so it's not something that we're bothered by," he said. "The normal issues arise—the ball being harder to handle and the wind blowing and things like that do change the factors somewhat—but for us it's no big deal."

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said his team practiced outdoors last week in Colorado, which might better prepare his team for any cold they face on Super Bowl Sunday. The temperatures dipped as low as 5 degrees last week, while Seattle never dropped below freezing.

Sunday's forecast calls for a high temperature in the upper 30s and a low in the low 20s, with a chance of rain.

Write to Stu Woo at