What will it take for Redskins to fix FedEx Field's turf problem?
The shoddy conditions at FedEx Field during Sunday's wild-card game between the
Seahawks and
Redskins have already been well documented here at Eye on Football and around the interwebs. But there's more (there's always more).
Seattle fullback
Michael Robinson provided the
damning video documentation, as well as this assessment: “You care about us, but we play on that field last week that was like, ‘Really? Really?'” he told
USA Today. “That should be illegal. That's like working in a sweat shop to me.”
That's overstating it a tad -- unless he's also forced to make iPhones while he's traipsing around the field -- but Robinson wasn't alone in his criticism.
“It was probably the worst field I've ever played on,”defensive lineman
Alan Branch told SiriusXM NFL Radio (via the
Washington Post). “They painted the dirt green so it looked like grass. It was like dried chunks of dirt that was flying everywhere. When you get to playing, you definitely block it out, but it's a huge topic before the game. [We were] bringing extra sets of cleats just to see which ones are the best footing for you. I mean, you do have to play to the elements, and whatever the field is at. We got the notice [from trainers], but a lot of us were watching that Dallas-Washington (Week 17 game), and it was evident there, so we definitely already knew about it.”
And the NFLPA was concerned enough to to call on the Redskins to replace the playing surface.
"The head coach and players themselves have said that the field was not up to snuff," NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told USA Today. "We certainly hope that they upgrade it."
Here's the thing: FedEx Field has always been a mediocre-or-worse track. In 2011, an NFLPA survey of players ranked FedEx Field
11th out of 18 grass surfaces.
On Sunday,
Robert Griffin III wasn't the only player seriously injured. The Seahawks lost defensive end Chris Clemons to an ACL injury, which prompted his agent to call the conditions "
crappy."
The great irony: it's the exact same description Redskins owner Dan Snyder used 14 years before when referring to the stadium's turf. In 1999,
Sports Illustrated's Peter King profiled Snyder, then the team's new owner.
"Snyder is getting his point across,”
King wrote at the time. “He began his reign by firing 26 employees -- 13 in stadium operations, 10 in team operations and three groundskeepers at Redskin Park.
"‘The stadium had out-of-control costs,' says Snyder, who claims that the fired stadium staff wasted about $800,000 in utility costs this year. ‘They were running the air-conditioning in the offseason needlessly in the suites and club seats. At Redskin Park the fields were in bad shape. There were three guys trying to kill the players with their crappy fields, so I brought in the head of the grounds crew at the stadium to oversee the fieldwork. Shame on me for trying to make the fields perfect.'”
Now the question is whether Snyder does anything about it. Coach Mike Shanahan said he'd consider an artificial surface, although at least one NFL study found that "certain serious knee and ankle injuries happen more often in games played on the most popular brand of artificial turf than on grass."
There doesn't appear to be an easy solution, particularly if Snyder isn't willing to fork over the dough for improvements -- a ridiculous notion given all that he has invested in Griffin. Then again, the man's on record as calling the conditions "crappy" -- and that was 14 years ago. Maybe the thought of being just one play away from the return of Rex Grossman will finally motivate Snyder to do something about it.
Chris Mortensen <s style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(187, 187, 187);">@</s>mortreport
