Eagles--Texans Game thread.

[Green Head]

Some gripes being aired over the playing surface.

Eagles Players Rip NRG Stadium Turf « CBS Houston

I don't think the Eagles can really complain to much. I know it is irrelevant but I mean we all remember the concrete field at the Vet. The Vet turf probably ended allot of careers. What is the story with the NRG field? I have never heard anything about it till now. I don't follow the Texans much, so you will have to excuse me.

 

[Green Head]

The Pats look better than the Eagles too... as do the Cardinals, and a number of other teams.

I don't think the Cardinals look better than the Eagles at all. The Eagles just had some bad luck sent their way or they would have beat the Cardinals by 2 touchdowns last week. I think we are all going to be surprised at how much better Sanchez makes this offense look next week, I mean they looked better yesterday. I mean we all have to admit that Foles is not ready to be a starting QB. I am surprised that Foiles beat out Sanchez for the starting job. I remember back around the second game of the season a reported said that Kelly said that the Eagles would not miss a beat if Sanchez came in to play that he had been throwing a good ball in practice.

 

[Iron Eagle]

I don't think the Eagles can really complain to much. I know it is irrelevant but I mean we all remember the concrete field at the Vet. The Vet turf probably ended allot of careers. What is the story with the NRG field? I have never heard anything about it till now. I don't follow the Texans much, so you will have to excuse me.

....it seems to have a history of being shoddy and beat-up.

 

[DutchBird]

I don't think the Eagles can really complain to much. I know it is irrelevant but I mean we all remember the concrete field at the Vet. The Vet turf probably ended allot of careers. What is the story with the NRG field? I have never heard anything about it till now. I don't follow the Texans much, so you will have to excuse me.

Multiple teams use it, often one shortly after the other, leaving the field with no time to recover. Also, the field is made up of trays filled with turf, which normally are left outside to grow, and trucked in to provide a playing field. Allegedly this causes a rather uneven field, and issues with along the edges of the trays (they do not connect smoothly).

In theory the tray system sounds nice, but in reality it does not work well at all... I know the tray system was suggested for the Amsterdam Arena (a 55,000 seat retractable roof soccer stadium, IIRC the first of its kind in the world). They had major problems with the turf there as well - and a tray system was seen as not an option for pretty much the reason mentioned above (no smooth playing surface), which for well over a decade led to having the field completely replaced 3 or more times a year (at something like $ 0.5-1 million per field). They now seem to have been able to devise a system of taking care of the field and developed a turf species that does last... But it took them like 15 years to get it right....