In Saquon Barkley’s first carry with the Philadelphia Eagles, a moment Eagles fans have been waiting for all offseason, he slipped on the turf in Brazil and fell for a 5-yard loss.
He wasn’t the only player to slip on the field in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The NFL had been promoting the Eagles-Green Bay Packers game in Brazil, the first regular-season game in South America. But slips and slides on the field became one of the most common stories as people found the right streaming service to watch the game.
Packers receiver Christian Watson slipped a few times in the first quarter, including once while in the end zone for a potential touchdown. Other players looked very unsteady when trying to cut. On a 14-yard run early in the second quarter, Packers running back Emanuel Wilson broke a 14-yard run, stopped to cut and his feet slipped about a yard as he fell onto the seat of his pants.
Everyone seemed to notice the problems on the field, including former NFL star JJ Watt and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Football fields are made for speed and agility. Smaller bodies glide across the surface with minimal contact.
They are not properly conditioned to have the size and strength of NFL players who cut, push and drive the entire game on them.
This is a common practice at international games. https://t.co/6NmjrwFty2
– JJ Watt (@JJWatt) September 7, 2024
My God this pitch sucks!!! GB vs PHI
— LeBron James (@KingJames) 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 far more familiar to college football fans than NFL fans, or just the unusual setting of the game. The seemingly abysmal field conditions didn’t help the level of play, with both teams having to rush to the sidelines to put on the proper shoes to face the turf.
The NFL wants to grow its sport internationally, and to do so, it sends teams to play in other countries. These games are often played in stadiums that rarely or never host American football games. You would think that this multi-billion dollar league would be careful not to put its players on substandard playing surfaces.