Although it received every care possible, the turf set up at University of Phoenix Stadium exclusively for the Super Bowl was the source of slips and upset throughout the game Sunday in Phoenix.
From the kickoff, the players knew what to expect. The Philadelphia Eagles kicker lost his footing, luckily avoiding injury. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also slipped during a play.
Thus, some athletes took the time to change cleats during the match. This is particularly the case of linebacker Haason Reddick, who however indicated that the tactic had not borne fruit. After the defeat, he therefore criticized the field without too much restraint.
“It’s the worst field I’ve played on, got carried away Reddick, as reported by the daily newspaper “New York Post”. I’ve won my battles many times and I’m slipping [en tentant d’atteindre Mahomes]. I just couldn’t change direction.”
“Terrible. It was like playing in a water park,” said tackler Jordan Mailata.
Little care
However, everything has been done to ensure that players are offered the best playing surface possible. The grass is of the Tahoma 31 variety – the type found on golf greens – and was sown two years before the game. The pitch was moved and installed two weeks before the big game, taking advantage of all the expertise of the best professionals to be ready for the final.
But obviously something went wrong. And it seems that is often the case in Arizona, according to several accounts.
“The field was pretty terrible,” Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark said. Looks like they installed tapes [de gazon] over the old lawn. We’ve had this problem in Arizona before.”
But if the conditions were not optimal, they were the same for both teams. That’s the message Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had after the game. “It’s not like we play on ice and they play on grass,” he wisely concluded.
