Saturday’s AFC Playoff game in Pittsburgh between the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens is supposed to see a dose of heavy rain, and Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver Torrey Smith doesn’t seem to happy about it.
Expressing his concerns about the conditions for Heinz field, Smith had this to say (via ESPN.com).
It’s terrible. They need to go ahead and put some turf up there or something. Apparently the field gets a lot of use. That’s good for them [as a business], but it’s terrible for us [as players on both teams] playing this late [in the season]. I’m sure they’ll do a great job prepping it.
Smith isn’t alone in his thinking about Heinz field. Two player surveys recently ranked Heinz Field as the “worst grass field in the NFL.” For a field that was just built in 2001, this is somewhat concerning. The field also plays hosts to the University of Pittsburgh’s college football team.
The weather forecast predicts a 100 percent chance of rain with the heaviest rain expected to arrive just prior to kickoff. When Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh was asked about how the weather will impact their game plan, had this to say.
I think we’ve got the contingencies built in. We just have to see how the game plays out. I like to think our schemes are weatherproof.
Weatherproof schemes? We’ll soon find out. What we can probably expect is a heavy dose of the run game to go along with the heavy Pittsburgh rain.
Photo: Zimbio.com