The Seahawks and Buccaneers had an extraordinary privilege to play in the NFL’s first ever game in Germany today. It’s unfortunate whoever oversees the playing surface left it in such a poor state for professional football.
One of the more disappointing elements of Seattle’s 21-16 Week 10 loss to Tampa was the number of slips and other issues with the playing field. Tom Brady slipped himself on Tariq Woolen’s interception, but in general the conditions seemed to be harder on the Seahawks, who were frequently unable to get their foot in the ground both literally and figuratively.
After the game, long snapper Tyler Ott called out the conditions at Allianz Arena and for safter fields in general in international stadiums.
International teams come to play in our stadiums and we change the fields for them. We play internationally on fields not designed for football, guys slipping everywhere and getting hurt. Priorities seem off. #SaferFields
— Tyler Ott (@Ottomatic82) November 13, 2022
This #SaferFields initiative is a new messaging bit from the NFLPA, which has been hitting social media hard over the weekend with this same idea – mostly pertaining to certain types of turf fields.
Ott and the players union are both right – we’re frankly lucky there aren’t any major injuries to report.
