NFL Dodges Worst-Case Scenario With Brazil Field

The NFL played its game as scheduled and as promised Sunday in Brazil. And it turned out to be mostly about the football acumen of the Cowboys and Ravens and about the league’s bid to expand its global appeal, not about the field conditions at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

The Ravens beat the Cowboys, 34—31, on a 56-yard field goal by kicker Tyler Loop as time expired in the second of the nine international games on the NFL’s docket this season. The nearly constant conversation over the past week about the state of the playing surface continued through Sunday’s pregame activities.

But once the game began, such talk gradually faded into the background as the game progressed toward its dramatic finish.

“There hasn’t been a ton of slipping,” CBS analyst and former NFL star J.J. Watt said early in the network’s broadcast.

CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson said on the air early in the game that the humid weather was a factor, and added that the teams were expecting to see divots in the grass field but were not anticipating that would affect play.

Wolfson also wrote Sunday on social media: “On the field—both teams comparing it to Green Bay. … There will be divots with this type of grass. Expect it. Ultimately footwear is key today.”

Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin, known for his speed and elusiveness, slipped on the turf and fell on a fourth-quarter incompletion thrown by quarterback Dak Prescott. But it wasn’t clear if that was attributable to the field conditions. And the players generally seemed to have sure footing on the field throughout the game despite any divots, as Ravens coach Jesse Minter said the conditions were not a factor in how the game was played.

“I thought overall the field held up well,” Minter said during his postgame news conference in Rio. “I didn’t see a bunch of plays where guys were falling down or anything like that. I thought our guys [had] the mentality of, you know, ’Let’s go play the game. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing in a parking lot. We’re playing on a field. Let’s go play the game. Let’s play 60 minutes and see what happens.’ … So credit to those guys for doing everything that they could in their power to try to get it as best as they could.”

The field was good enough to produce a high-scoring, entertaining game that likely will draw an eye-catching viewership number on CBS. The Cowboys tied the game with seven seconds remaining. But the Ravens moved quickly down the field to set up Loop’s winning kick, being aided when the officials ruled there was one second remaining on the clock after a catch by wide receiver Zay Flowers.

“We didn’t care about how the field was,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “We just know once the time comes, we’re going to play football. That’s all we could do. And this Brazil trip, man, it was wonderful. … It was a great experience here.”

Flowers played in the game despite a hamstring injury that he tested during an on-field pregame workout.

“I knew I was going to be able to play, like, earlier in the week,” Flowers said. “I just was testing it out. I [didn’t] want to take a chance because I heard the field was bad. So we came out early and did a little workout.”

CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz asked Watt late in the game if any of the injuries suffered by players during the game were attributable to the field conditions. The Cowboys had several players, including cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., suffer injuries, although the severity was not immediately clear.

“I don’t think any of these … have been the field,” Watt said, citing a play on which Ravens offensive lineman Ethan Pocic was hurt when his leg was struck by the helmet of another player.

The NFL had said Saturday that the playing surface was in compliance with the field standards jointly developed and monitored by the league and the NFL Players Association. JC Tretter, the NFLPA’s executive director, said in a written statement Friday that the field issues were more about performance than about player safety.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told Front Office Sports before kickoff Sunday: “The field looks like it’s going to be really fine. Our guys have walked it over, every inch of it. So … I would be surprised if it’s an issue in this game.”

Jones told other reporters before the game that the field “looks very acceptable at this point,” adding: “And the players that have been out here warming up and what have you, they feel comfortable.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer told Fox that his team wouldn’t factor field conditions into its play-calling for the game, Jay Glazer reported during that network’s studio pregame show.

Watt posted photos of the field to social media before the game, writing: “I’m giving the field the benefit of the doubt until we see reason not to, once the players are on it.”

Concerns about the condition of the playing surface were originally raised by soccer players for Flamengo, which plays its home games in the stadium.

The NFL told FOS last Sunday that it was looking forward to the game in Rio and had a plan in place to ensure a high-quality playing surface.

Nick Pappas, the NFL’s field director, told FOS last Monday from Brazil he had “full confidence” that he and his staff would have the field ready for the game.

Pappas attributed the concerns about the field largely to recent heavy rainfall. The NFLPA made suggestions during the field-preparation process. With Brazil’s league paused for FIFA’s international break, there were no soccer matches on the field during the week leading up to Sunday’s game. The NFL used machinery to employ a field-stitching technique in which synthetic fibers were driven into the ground to reinforce the grass playing surface.

The game came a little more than two weeks after the NFL played a Week 1 game in Australia, and ahead of three straight weekends of games in London.

 “It was a wonderful atmosphere,” Jackson said.

The vast majority of ticket buyers for the game were from Brazil, the NFL said, although purchasers also came from 66 other countries.

“The venue is world renowned,” Jones told FOS. “So it’s great to be in this venue. But it’s great to be here in front of Brazilian fans.”