PITTSBURGH — Players with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns expressed “outrage” and concerns to the NFL Players Association over the “embarrassing” playing surface last weekend at Acrisure Stadium, a union source told ESPN.
“The NFLPA has expressed its concerns to the NFL and will ensure that players do not find themselves in this position in the future,” the source said Wednesday.
Some players said the pitch, which already had to be resurfaced after the match, was “dry”. Steelers offensive lineman Broderick Jones was one of several players who reported “throwing up chunks of grass” when making explosive moves.
League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday that the NFL has “been in contact with both the union and the club, which has taken steps to replace the turf surface.”
“I thought it was mediocre [Sunday]”Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday of conditions on the field. “I’m not worried about the future. My understanding is that this turf is going to be replaced, but I certainly recognize that it was a concern yesterday.”
Steelers kicker Chris Boswell slipped on the turf while attempting and missing a field goal in the fourth quarter, and special teams captain Miles Killebrew suffered a “significant” non-contact knee injury while planting on the turf.
“Honestly, it was crap,” Steelers defensive captain and NFLPA team representative Cameron Heyward said Tuesday. “I lost one of my teammates and that makes me a little sad.”
Heyward said he still prefers a grass playing surface to turf, which has attracted attention from stadiums such as New York’s MetLife for high-profile injuries. But Heyward added that Sunday’s field was substandard.
The league said there was no difference in injury rates between artificial turf and turf playing surfaces last season. There were also fewer ACL injuries last season on synthetic surfaces than on grass, and there has been no difference so far this year.
“I like turf, but it wasn’t turf to play on,” Heyward said.
An NFLPA source echoed Heyward’s sentiments about the preference for turf playing surfaces over turf, but stressed that the quality of the turf is important.
“Players prefer grass pitches, but not all grass surfaces are equal,” the source told ESPN. “The conditions at Acrisure Stadium highlight why players have pushed for high-quality turf fields and why the NFLPA continues to push for improved, shared turf field maintenance practices across the league.”
The Steelers share a stadium with the University of Pittsburgh, but neither team had played at Acrisure the week before Sunday’s game. Pitt hosted Boston College on October 4, while the Steelers’ only home game before the Browns was against the Seattle Seahawks on September 14.
While the Steelers have played just one home game during that stretch, Pitt hosted four of its first five games at Acrisure. Juggling pitch wear between two teams is nothing new on the pitch, but generally conditions have deteriorated much later in the season before re-turfing.
“Players deserve to have the safest, highest quality workplaces,” the NFLPA source said. “The NFLPA is advocating for better league-wide standards and is pushing the NFL to obtain more surface-specific data to ensure our members are playing on the best possible field surfaces, regardless of whether it is grass or turf.”
