PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – You could see it when first arriving at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, the field just didn’t look right. It looked burned out in places in mostly between the 40-yard lines. The comments were pouring through from fans watching on TV, but it wasn’t really encapsulated until Steelers kicker Chris Boswell tried to plant to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter Sunday and fell down. That was the singular play that showed the issues with the stadium turf against Cleveland.
It wasn’t that there were a lot of players falling down all over the place, but you heard a lot of rumbling in the locker room after the game Sunday about the conditions. Aaron Rodgers even brought it up after the game saying it reminded him of his early years at Green Bay, but said that normally wouldn’t be until November or early December.
“I thought it was poor yesterday,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on Monday at his weekly news conference.
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi was in his office Sunday and not intently watching the Steelers game, but when he did turn it on he immediately went into another coach’s office to ask if they saw the field, which obviously they share.
“I caught the last two minutes of that Steelers game and I was like ‘Holy Cow’,” Narduzzi said. “Doesn’t look good out there.”
Narduzzi said in Pitt’s last home game, which was October 4 on what was a dry day for a noon kickoff, the field was ‘not very good’. He said it was a little shaky and seemed dry. Narduzzi wasn’t sure why that way as he acknowledged the stadium has a sprinkler system.
“Hopefully we can get that back to where it needs to be and be a great surface,” Narduzzi said. “We love playing on the grass. We can’t change that.”
Rodgers said they made some changes and were able to figure it out at Lambeau Field and the field is now immaculate.
“I’m not concerned going forward for its my understanding that turf is going to be swapped out, but I certainly acknowledge it was a concern (Sunday),” Tomlin said.
Panthers will play three more games at home with the next being October 25 with the Steelers playing the following day on prime-time. Steelers will play the following Sunday at home as well. There is another back-to-back weekend as Pitt hosts Notre Dame November 15 and the Steelers home the following day.