NFL World, Eagles React Super Bowl Field Conditions: ‘It’s a joke’
The Kansas City Chiefs outlasted the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII 38-35, in a thrilling, memorable shootout. The NFL world might look back on this one and see it as a pivoting point for both franchises.
The play on the field was not matched by the play of the field. The $800,000 field surface, made of sod grass grown in Phoenix for the past several years, failed to meet the expectations of fans, coaches, players, and basically, anyone watching.
Players were slipping everywhere. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott slipped on a kickoff; Kansas City’s Isiah Pacheco slipped while celebrating a touchdown. The list goes on and on.
Fox’s Tom Rinaldi picked up on the slippery sod in his report in the second half of the game. During his report, Rinaldi mentioned several Eagles players switching shoes.
“This has been an issue since the pregame. You see players having a hard time keeping their footing. We’ve already seen half a dozen Eagles change their cleats. Haason Reddick among them, Devonta Smith, Jalen Hurts,” Rinaldi said.
Rinaldi was hardly the only person to pick up on the bad conditions. Several players from both sides were vocal about the turf.
Haason Reddick is a member of an Eagles defensive line that dominated offensive lines all season. On Super Bowl Sunday, however, he was neutralized.
“A couple times I had a good pass rush, felt like I beat my man, trying to turn the corner and couldn’t turn the corner,” Reddick said postgame.
“I’m not going to lie: It was the worst field I’ve ever played on,” he said.
Reddick was upset about the field but didn’t want to use it as an excuse. Most of the Eagles players agree with Reddick, but it’s not like the Eagles were playing on anything different than the Chiefs.
Chiefs’ defensive end Frank Clark shared a similar sentiment. He particularly called out the surface in Arizona, where the Chiefs had similar problems way back in Week 1.
“We’ve had this problem in Arizona before. A lot of these stadiums try to do new tactics with the grass, they try to do new things. I’ve been playing football since I was 7. The best grass is grass that is naturally there,” Clark said postgame.
The playing surface is Tahoma 31, a newer breed of grass. According to ESPN, it’s a “mix of two types of Bermuda grasses and rye grass.”
I’m sure Rihanna’s performance during the Super Bowl halftime show didn’t help the Super Bowl field conditions.
How do you prepare a field for years, and not consider the players slipping? Did they do any tests of actual NFL players using the field before they unveiled it for the whole league to scoff at?
The NFL has to find a way to make the fields consistent. Many players clamored for grass fields throughout the season due to injury concerns on turf.
So, that brings up the question: how do you find a playing surface that is less slippery, but is not going to injure the players when they make a cut?
There has to be a happy medium out there somewhere. We can tell you now: that happy medium is not Tahoma 31.
The playing surface will continue to be in question for years to come. What could have been if the game was played on standard turf, right Eagles fans?
***
Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch
Click here for more NFL content
Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube
