On Saquon Barkley‘s first carry with the Philadelphia Eagles, a moment Eagles fans had waited for all offseason, he slipped on the turf in Brazil and fell down for a 5-yard loss.
He wasn’t the only player slipping on the turf at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The NFL hyped up the Eagles-Green Bay Packers game in Brazil, the first regular-season game in South America. But slipping and sliding on the turf became one of the stories as people found the correct streaming service to watch the game.
Packers receiver Christian Watson slipped a couple times in the first quarter, including once when he was in the end zone for a potential touchdown. Other players looked very unsteady as they tried to cut. On a play early in the second quarter, Packers running back Emanuel Wilson broke a 14-yard run, stopped to cut and his feet slid about a yard as he fell on the seat of his pants.
This field seems a little dangerous. Guys on both sides of the ball are slipping almost every single play.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 7, 2024
Everyone seemed to notice the issues with the field, including former NFL star J.J. Watt and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Soccer fields are made for speed and agility. Smaller bodies gliding across the surface with minimal contact.
They are not properly conditioned to have the size & strength of NFL players cutting, pushing and driving all game on them.
This is common at international games. https://t.co/6NmjrwFty2
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) September 7, 2024
The start of the game, a matchup between two of the NFL’s most talented teams, seemed disjointed in many ways. Maybe it was the rare Friday night kickoff or an announcing crew that’s way more familiar to college football fans than NFL fans, or just the unusual setting for the game. The seemingly awful field conditions didn’t help the level of play. It sent both teams scrambling on the sideline to get on the right cleats to deal with the turf.
“Do whatever you gotta do, change cleats, but it has been a problem for sure,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said on Peacock at the end of the first half.
The NFL wants to grow its game internationally, and to do so it sends teams to other countries to play. Often those games are in stadiums that either never or rarely host American football games. You’d think the multi-billion dollar league would make sure it’s not putting its players on subpar playing surfaces in the process.
