One Positive of Not Going to Fiesta Bowl

Submitted by jimmyshi03 on December 10th, 2018 at 2:07 PM

I attended the Lions-Cardinals game at State Farm yesterday with my brother, who lives outside Phoenix. The field condition was among the worst I’ve ever seen live, and the field was pretty chewed up pretty quickly. We saw the probable end of Ziggy Ansah’s Lions career, and so many guys went out, it was getting comical. The roof was open, but it was perfectly pleasant and sunny.

So while I would have preferred to play LSU, I am somewhat grateful that we won’t, perhaps, lose someone for the spring, if not longer, because of field conditions. 

chango

December 10th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^

Don't think like that ?  besides those currently are two of the horrible NFL franchises that those types of things on the field aren't out of the norm. 

Beat the snot out of Florida!

RockinLoud

December 10th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^

I don't get why some teams insist on having real grass when field turf has been demonstrated to be superior in pretty much every possible way. Especially when there's millions of dollars in player health at stake, you would think injury reduction alone would make it a no-brainer.

RockinLoud

December 10th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^

I would agree that a grass field in perfect shape is better overall than turf, however, most grass fields I've seen are far from in good shape. A rainy game will typically jack up the grass relatively quickly, and I've seen a good portion of grass fields just be a mess by half way through the season regardless of how much work the grounds crew does. Maybe some aren't, maybe some are kept in great shape, I can see it being better in that type of circumstance, but the majority I've seen and played on are not in decent shape and I think that exposes you to more potential for injury than a field turf surface would, even considering the higher risk of ACL injury.

 

jimmyshi03

December 10th, 2018 at 2:52 PM ^

I’ve covered HS games here in Vegas for a few years and it’s always interesting to see the difference between the schools built in the boom and pre-boom. The older high schools always have grass fields, and as you might guess, they’re in pretty rough shape in the early part of the year. The new schools all have field turf.

rob f

December 10th, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^

State Farm?  I wonder if the Cardinals have homeowners insurance through them.  Lions GM Bob Quinn might want to get ahold of Jake (from State Farm) and file some claims.

Novak-blood

December 10th, 2018 at 2:52 PM ^

From an azcentral article this past summer:

"..the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority paid for a complete upgrade of that tray during the off-season. The original waterproofing and drainage systems of the field tray were replaced, along with the sod and root-zone mix. The new system comes equipped with leak-detection technology."

Growing and maintaining perfect sod can be fickle, especially in a climate like Arizona. Maybe the root system was adversely affected by disease. I'm sure the grounds crew is beside themselves in frustration that such an expensive, high-tech system could produce such a rough result.

Don

December 10th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^

I didn't watch any of the game, but I can't keep from mentioning that the Cardinals are the franchise that's gone the longest without winning a league championship (1947), and the Lions have gone the longest without appearing in a league championship game (1957).