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Reliant's Turf

keyser

Veteran
What is up with the turf tonight? I've seen about half a dozen times when Texans have slipped down with either no contact or what seems to be very minor contact. I haven't noticed it happening to the Packers, but might have just been tuning it out. Could it be cleats or something?
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
I pointed the condition of the field from the beginning of the game.
Jamison probably has an Achilles. (and I think Caldwell literally got knocked out of the game with a concussion after he slipped)
Packers LB Perry is knocked out with a knee injury.
Packers LB White is also knocked out with a knee injury.
 

keyser

Veteran
You would have thought that with this being our first Sunday Night Football game, they would have done a bit more to ensure the field was in optimal condition...
 

Luv_ya_blue

Truth, Love, Faith & Obedience - Christianity 101
I have noticed multiple slips and falls over the course of the season. I just plain HATE the way our field plays.

We were "inovative" in the way our field/stadium was setup, when it was first done. Now it's just plain stupid. Players getting hurt and constant slips and falls. SMH.

Not to mention that we play in HOUSTON where it has year-round high humidity.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
From the Official Packers Texans Game Thread:

I was saying...........everyone's slipping.........something wrong with the field?........wet.....or separated???
The field doesn't look like it's been replaced for this game. It's all chopped up.
Look at that field..........there's clumps all over......
The same thing that I noticed the last home game I attended. The 50 yd line logo was not even freshly remarked, let alone the grass replaced. When I checked, I confirmed that the field was not replaced. Looks like the same thing for all things MNF. The grass doesn't seem firmly rooted......hundreds of loose clumps. I even wonder if the grass was watered recently by rain through the open roof or manually.
Before it's over, it will have been responsible for lots of players coming out of this game BANGed up.
Hmmmmmmm...It costs $30,000 dollars to change the field out.
That's taking less than 50 cents out of each ticket sold each game.
 
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Mr teX

Hall of Fame
Yeah its terrible...mcnair needs to go ahead & get that artificial stuff NE, Balt and other teams have. Tired of seeing guys slipping down and missing out on making a huge play.
 

Hervoyel

BUENO!
I've been bitching about the turf for years like a lot of you but since we don't play on it and only watch players slip and slide, stick and twist in it we're not qualified to say it's a bad field. Remember that even though it looks like crap and doesn't appear to play much better. Years ago somebody said that the players thought it was a top-ten field in some poll or survey so every time a thread appears asking for some kind of change we get a few glorious sunshine pumpers come around to tell us that we don't what we're talking about.

Doesn't change the fact that we've got one of the nicest stadiums in football with one of the worst fields in football inside of it.
 

Say Watt

Hall of Fame
From the Official Packers Texans Game Thread:
You were definitely all over it tonight. But that is typically the case with you.

This is really pathetic. If the team is going to continue to use a turf like this, they have got to start replacing it each and every game. This can't continue. Frequent injuries are killing this team and due to the nature of the injuries (and the constant slippage), the turf definitely seems to be the main culprit.

Is there no way to get this some more publicity? Surely this is something the news could pick up on. I mean this is a big deal. The Texans are not changing out their turf often enough so the turf develops huge divots which then cause a higher likelihood of player injuries. They also chose not to replace it before one of the biggest games in Texans history thus far. That isn't a big story?
 

texanhead08

All Pro
The worst I have seen it was the bowl game last December it looked like a swamp and it was embarrassing as a Houston native and taxpayer to have the field look so poor on national tv.
 

Errant Hothy

Hypermediocrity
Yeah its terrible...mcnair needs to go ahead & get that artificial stuff NE, Balt and other teams have. Tired of seeing guys slipping down and missing out on making a huge play.
I've been bitching about the turf for years like a lot of you but since we don't play on it and only watch players slip and slide, stick and twist in it we're not qualified to say it's a bad field. Remember that even though it looks like crap and doesn't appear to play much better. Years ago somebody said that the players thought it was a top-ten field in some poll or survey so every time a thread appears asking for some kind of change we get a few glorious sunshine pumpers come around to tell us that we don't what we're talking about.

Doesn't change the fact that we've got one of the nicest stadiums in football with one of the worst fields in football inside of it.
The worst I have seen it was the bowl game last December it looked like a swamp and it was embarrassing as a Houston native and taxpayer to have the field look so poor on national tv.
^All of this.

The grass has to go, it looks like crap and plays worse. McNair needs to swallow some pride/desire for that old school grass surface and put player safety before the surface.

The fact that the only thing worse that how the surface looks is how it plays.
 

texanhead08

All Pro
There was word that they would have a field turf surface for the non texan games, but it wasn't used for UH-RICE or SHSU-SFA so I don't know what gives.
 

NCTexan

Veteran
Seriously though. I recall at least two times Arian, and another time where Tate went down with no contact seemingly because of the turf.

That's just off the top of my head.
 

Vinny

shiny happy fan
I'm officially on the Reliant turf sucks bandwagon. I thought it was mostly cosmetic but I think we are growing grass with poor root systems or something. The grass seems weak and there are seams everywhere. Time for field turf and stop trying to grow grass indoors/outdoors on palates. Too bad we didn't think of the Arizona solution when we built this one.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
What is up with the turf tonight? I've seen about half a dozen times when Texans have slipped down with either no contact or what seems to be very minor contact. I haven't noticed it happening to the Packers, but might have just been tuning it out. Could it be cleats or something?
You know... we "cried" about the turf before the play-offs last season. However, the turf didn't pose any problem what-so-ever to anyone but the Texans.

Why is it just a problem for us? Why didn't we see any Packers slipping & sliding & tearing their achilles?
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
You know... we "cried" about the turf before the play-offs last season. However, the turf didn't pose any problem what-so-ever to anyone but the Texans.

Why is it just a problem for us? Why didn't we see any Packers slipping & sliding & tearing their achilles?
did you notice all their knee injuries?
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
You know... we "cried" about the turf before the play-offs last season. However, the turf didn't pose any problem what-so-ever to anyone but the Texans.

Why is it just a problem for us? Why didn't we see any Packers slipping & sliding & tearing their achilles?
Because they were too busy tearing up their knees.

Green Bay's 42-14 win at Houston came at a steep price. Coach Mike McCarthy, who usually withholds any revealing information about the severity of injuries after a game was upfront.

“Unfortunately, we have some potentially serious injuries,” McCarthy said.

Linebacker D.J. Smith and RB Brandon Saine crumpled to the turf and left the game with significant right knee injuries. Both wore grimaces on their faces as they were helped off the field by trainers. In the locker room, they both were on crutches with their knees wrapped.

"We feel the injuries are significant,” McCarthy said of Smith and Saine. “We'll have to recover from that and move on.”

But that wasn't all.

Outside linebacker Nick Perry also left the game with a knee injury. Though he was seen walking around and laughing on the sideline during the game, he didn't return. In the fourth quarter, CB Sam Shields left the game after being kicked in the shin. Before being carted off the field, Shields could be seen angrily slamming his hand against the bench on the sideline, while talking to a trainer.

Even QB Aaron Rodgers had a slight limp as he walked off the field late in the fourth quarter. Rodgers' leg was receiving medical attention on the sideline after he departed, though it didn't appear serious.

The specifics and severity of the injuries won't be known until McCarthy addresses the media late on Monday, and even then he may not have or provide much information.
link
 

sandmanx

Waterboy
I don't know why the team doesn't go with field turf. It seems the field is in bad shape for several games each year.
 

Hervoyel

BUENO!
You know... we "cried" about the turf before the play-offs last season. However, the turf didn't pose any problem what-so-ever to anyone but the Texans.

Why is it just a problem for us? Why didn't we see any Packers slipping & sliding & tearing their achilles?

We've seen other teams come into Reliant and have problems. we can't point to a single game where the issue didn't come up (for one side or both sides) and say that there's not a problem. Over the years we've seen so many plays affected by slipping players (ours and theirs) that this issue is really not something I think is debateable anymore. There's a problem.
 

Titans Sux 72

Waterboy
Yeah but the turf "ranks " high in league.

Believe me I hate the field also but got jumped on here cause I guess I did not LOVE all things Texans.
 

infantrycak

Hall of Fame
Yeah but the turf "ranks " high in league.

Believe me I hate the field also but got jumped on here cause I guess I did not LOVE all things Texans.
Don't take it so personal. The opinions of fans on this are about the most irrelevant of any issue in football. The players want the grass. For me that is the end of the story.

And Doc I am sorry but you can't ascribe every knee injury which happens to the turf. Darelle Revis blew his knee without contact on a non-trayed grass field. It happens every weekend in the NFL. Then there are all sorts of contact knee injuries having nothing to do with the turf like Cushing.
 

Rey

Guest
Schaub said the field was how it always is.

And players slip on every field.

I don't know if they use the same type of surface for highschool and college games, but my brother and two brother in laws have played in reliant multiple times. None if them complained about the field.

Maybe they give high school and college players the good stuff.
 

FirstTexansFan

The Unknown Fan
I wonder how difficult and expensive it would be to modify the stadium to what Arizona is doing? In looking at pictures of the stadium, it appears to me visually it could be accomplished.
 

paycheck71

Hall of Fame
I wonder how difficult and expensive it would be to modify the stadium to what Arizona is doing? In looking at pictures of the stadium, it appears to me visually it could be accomplished.
I think it would be incredibly expensive, if not impossible. You'd have to redesign and reconstruct supporting structures for one end zone's stands and roof.

They will go to field turf 10 times over before the even consider that solution.

As someone already pointed out, players want to play on grass, and how "bad" the field looks to us makes no difference. Heard ND Kalu on the radio earlier in the week discussing this, and he said he had no problem with the Texans field when he played here. He said it was a little harder than other natural grass fields, but much better than any artificial turf he played on.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
I think it would be incredibly expensive, if not impossible. You'd have to redesign and reconstruct supporting structures for one end zone's stands and roof.

They will go to field turf 10 times over before the even consider that solution.

As someone already pointed out, players want to play on grass, and how "bad" the field looks to us makes no difference. Heard ND Kalu on the radio earlier in the week discussing this, and he said he had no problem with the Texans field when he played here. He said it was a little harder than other natural grass fields, but much better than any artificial turf he played on.
Open air stadium are constructed to allow full sun to the grass and extensive as-needed watering. Grass on pallets to begin with are more difficult to care for. Not moving the pallets out for periods of time can have a negative effect on the grass. Moving the pallets too often can have a traumatic effect. Watering techniques and needs inside and outside the stadium differ and their effects on the grass can be significant. Once the grass is damaged, return to "health" within a pallet is a much more difficult and lengthy process than if part of the natural ground. All of this, along with not replacing the pallets as needed, has very damaging effects on the root systems, resulting in cleats throwing clumps creating holes and divots throughout the field. I spoke to one of the grounds keepers involved in the care of this system near the beginning of the stadium's existence who mentioned a significant concern of these clumps coming up right at the seams of the pallets creating significant hazard spots where pseudo separations would easily catch a player's cleats.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
There was word that they would have a field turf surface for the non texan games, but it wasn't used for UH-RICE or SHSU-SFA so I don't know what gives.
That policy goes into effect next year, 2013.

Turf for non-NFL events coming to Reliant Stadium

The article mentions that it would be used this year, but I heard on the radio today that they will start using it next year. I do not know the reason(s) for the delay.

Schaub said the field was how it always is.

And players slip on every field.

I don't know if they use the same type of surface for highschool and college games, but my brother and two brother in laws have played in reliant multiple times. None if them complained about the field.

Maybe they give high school and college players the good stuff.
yep, my son said the same thing. He said the players love playing at Reliant, both for the atmosphere and because the field is great.
 

ChampionTexan

Hall of Fame
That policy goes into effect next year, 2013.

Turf for non-NFL events coming to Reliant Stadium

The article mentions that it would be used this year, but I heard on the radio today that they will start using it next year. I do not know the reason(s) for the delay.



yep, my son said the same thing. He said the players love playing at Reliant, both for the atmosphere and because the field is great.
While "Great" might not not exactly describe their response, the NFLPA player survey done after the 2010 season clearly did not indicate any perceived problem on the part of those who play on it on Sundays. It ranked Reliant as 7th best of the 18 natural grass playing surfaces currently used by the NFL (artificial surfaces were ranked separately). Then again, I'm sure that those watching on TV or from the stands probably have a more informed opinion than the actual players who use it, so nevermind.

LINK
 

hookinreds

Veteran
I was watching other games on League Pass on Sunday and was commenting to my friend how many players were slipping at the line of scrimmage trying to change direction...and these were on the field turf. In other words, I didn't see any more slipping in our game than I did in the other games. During our game, I could really notice more seams than usual as well, and it appeared to be getting chewed up more than normal. I blame global warming.
 

Hervoyel

BUENO!
Somehow this morphed from a "Guys were slipping and sliding all over the place" thread to a "It looks bad and we don't like it" thread.

But hey, if the players want to play on it then by all means, have at it guys.
 

paycheck71

Hall of Fame
Open air stadium are constructed to allow full sun to the grass and extensive as-needed watering. Grass on pallets to begin with are more difficult to care for. Not moving the pallets out for periods of time can have a negative effect on the grass. Moving the pallets too often can have a traumatic effect. Watering techniques and needs inside and outside the stadium differ and their effects on the grass can be significant. Once the grass is damaged, return to "health" within a pallet is a much more difficult and lengthy process than if part of the natural ground. All of this, along with not replacing the pallets as needed, has very damaging effects on the root systems, resulting in cleats throwing clumps creating holes and divots throughout the field. I spoke to one of the grounds keepers involved in the care of this system near the beginning of the stadium's existence who mentioned a significant concern of these clumps coming up right at the seams of the pallets creating significant hazard spots where pseudo separations would easily catch a player's cleats.
I don't have any argument with any of this.

At least in theory, the damage to the grass and root system due to lack of water, light or due to trauma can be solved by having enough trays outside, getting back to health. I've mentioned before, that the seams and potential inconsistencies from tray to tray are the two biggest problems with this system, if in fact those are big enough issues. And I'm not sure that there is a solution.
 

Texn4life

All Pro
I'm watching the Miss St./Okie St. game and it seriously is beyond me why we can't play on field turf like they're having them play on. I guess the organization really doesn't like playing on the stuff, but I don't have much confidence in our natural playing surface.
 

infantrycak

Hall of Fame
I'm watching the Miss St./Okie St. game and it seriously is beyond me why we can't play on field turf like they're having them play on. I guess the organization really doesn't like playing on the stuff, but I don't have much confidence in our natural playing surface.
Because the players don't like it and it causes more injuries. That comes before fan aesthetic concerns.
 

Texn4life

All Pro
Because the players don't like it and it causes more injuries. That comes before fan aesthetic concerns.
I'm not talking about the way it looks, but when Bill Belichick comes out and talks about how terrible the field is I would probably venture to say there's something to it. I just don't see how rolling out patches of grass is safe. Not saying that field turf is much safer, but I haven't heard a ton of complaints from those teams that use it up north.
 

paycheck71

Hall of Fame
I'm not talking about the way it looks, but when Bill Belichick comes out and talks about how terrible the field is I would probably venture to say there's something to it. I just don't see how rolling out patches of grass is safe. Not saying that field turf is much safer, but I haven't heard a ton of complaints from those teams that use it up north.
Why would anyone ever believe anything Bill Belichick says in public?
 

Texn4life

All Pro
But it looks so pretty!

I knew this thread would get resurrected.
Why would anyone ever believe anything Bill Belichick says in public?
Still don't get why this is even a discussion...

LINK
Why don't you take a peak at the Hartmann thread after he got hurt and see what many people on the board were saying, or maybe the Andre thread after he got hurt......... It could very well be safe, but the idea of how they roll it out still makes me a little uneasy.
 

paycheck71

Hall of Fame
Why don't you take a peak at the Hartmann thread after he got hurt and see what many people on the board were saying, or maybe the Andre thread after he got hurt......... It could very well be safe, but the idea of how they roll it out still makes me a little uneasy.
I've seen those threads. A bunch of fans making far reaching conclusions, raising baseless concerns over how the turf LOOKS.

If you followed the link, you'll see a ranking based on PLAYERS opinions, which have nothing to do with how it looks.

I'm certainly not qualified in any way to judge which is better on my own, but it's clear year after year that players and coaches prefer grass over anything artificial, and that Reliant real grass field ranks in the top third of all the grass fields. Why are we still talking about this?
 

Texn4life

All Pro
I've seen those threads. A bunch of fans making far reaching conclusions, raising baseless concerns over how the turf LOOKS.

If you followed the link, you'll see a ranking based on PLAYERS opinions, which have nothing to do with how it looks.

I'm certainly not qualified in any way to judge which is better on my own, but it's clear year after year that players and coaches prefer grass over anything artificial, and that Reliant real grass field ranks in the top third of all the grass fields. Why are we still talking about this?
Funny thing about message boards....... You can very easily avoid reading or answering anything in them.

As to your response though I completely understand what you're saying about grass fields being safer. I'm just leery about how ours it setup. But I'll let you avoid this discussion since it bothers you so much.
 
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