It's been a bad year for the turf at Reliant Stadium. Against Atlanta, the turf was blamed for injuries to Andre Johnson and punter Brett Hartmann, since a high school game had been played on it the day before.
↵Now, the same turf got chewed up less than 24 hours before the Texans ended their regular season against the Tennessee Titans with the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas and looked awful. Seriously, someone asked me during the game if the field was wet because it looked so bad.
↵In the article Tim wrote about it at BRB, he referenced Bill Belichick's comments from the final week of the 2009 season, when Wes Welker blew out his knee and Belichick blamed the turf. Will those same issues pop up this weekend with the playoffs coming to town? There won't be a game played on it beforehand, so that won't be an issue. But, if there is an injury during this one, you can bet the turf will be getting a ton more attention.
↵The issues have gotten so bad that a Twitter account has sprung up for the beleaguered grass. That's when you know it's a big issue.
↵For what it's worth, when I've walked around on the field, I haven't really noticed a difference in the sections or seams. But, I've only been on the field twice and didn't walk around on more than the 15 yards around the 50. When I talked to a high school coach who was playing there about the surface, he said he had heard it was like Field Turf and that he should be prepared for it. Afterwards, he didn't seem to think it played any different or that they had any problems on it.
↵That's anecdotal evidence, for sure, and shouldn't necessarily be given a ton of credence. Still, if the pro players are grousing over it and if you can tell on TV that the field isn't quite right, Reliant may want to look at it more closely.
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