No, this is not an excuse for why the Patriots got their butts kicked in Nashville yesterday. It is, however, a reminder that home field is more than having the fans rooting for you.
If you watched yesterday’s game you surely noticed several occasions when the field got in the way of the game. Luckily, the miserable field conditions didn’t deplete the Patriots active roster any further. While it might have affected players and their ability to go all out, causing them to be a second too late, it really doesn’t matter at this point.
If the field conditions didn’t matter, why am I bringing it up you ask? Similar to few years ago when the Patriots played in ridiculous conditions at Arrowhead Stadium, the conditions yesterday appear to have been man-made. Oddly enough if you were to read an article about that Monday Night drubbing that the Patriots got in 2014, it would sound like everything you are reading today about yesterday’s game.
Back in 2014 the field conditions at Arrowhead were such that the turf was coming up as if the field had a bad case of grubs. While I can’t find it, I’m pretty certain there were pictures of the grounds crew watering the field not too long before gametime. If you look up pictures from that game, you will definitely see a lot of turned over grass. In case you were wondering, there wasn’t any rain in KC leading up to the game.
Back in 2014 the field conditions at Arrowhead were such that the turf was coming up as if the field had a bad case of grubs. While I can’t find it, I’m pretty certain there were pictures of the grounds crew watering the field not too long before gametime. If you look up pictures from that game, you will definitely see a lot of turned over grass. In case you were wondering, there wasn’t any rain in KC leading up to the game.
Yesterday’s field conditions appear to be some home cooking as well. According to tweets by Dan Roche and Mike Reiss, the Titans had the tarp on the field until at least 9:00 am. At 9:34 it appears the tarp is partially off as coach Vrabel is running on part of the field.
Just before 10, the Patriots bus arrived and the team prepared for the game. Looking on Twitter, it doesn’t appear that any Patriots were warming up on the field prior to 11:20 when Chris Hogan and Julian Edelman are spotted. The first onfield Brady sighting doesn’t appear to happen until 12:12. Based on seeing pictures of players onfield a lot earlier than that usually, that seemed a little strange to me. Of course we haven’t played many 1 o’clock road games, so maybe it’s typical.
Just before 10, the Patriots bus arrived and the team prepared for the game. Looking on Twitter, it doesn’t appear that any Patriots were warming up on the field prior to 11:20 when Chris Hogan and Julian Edelman are spotted. The first onfield Brady sighting doesn’t appear to happen until 12:12. Based on seeing pictures of players onfield a lot earlier than that usually, that seemed a little strange to me. Of course we haven’t played many 1 o’clock road games, so maybe it’s typical.
Besides the possibility of having the tarp on the field affecting players warmups, it also didn’t help the field conditions. Looking at the precipitation history for Nashville, it doesn’t appear that there was any rain on Saturday or Sunday. If there wasn’t any rain, what was the point of the tarp being on the field besides holding in moisture from Friday? While the temperatures in Tennessee were much cooler than normal, there wasn’t a realistic chance of frost or anything. Not that a little frost would matter on a heated field anyhow. Especially not if you are planning on tearing up the grass less than 24 hours later.
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