Last year, the Carolina Panthers faced criticism from the NFL Players Association for the hardness of the field during a cold day in December. This year, the Panthers are taking steps to avoid a similar outcome.
Via Joseph Person of TheAthletic.com, the Panthers will use a “blanket-type device” to keep the turf warm at Bank of America Stadium.
The union ultimately filed a grievance over turf conditions for the Christmas Eve game against the Lions. NFLPA president JC Tretter later explained that the field failed the so-called “Clegg test,” which requires field hardness to be 100g or less. For Lions-Panthers, the turf at Bank of America Stadium maxed out the testing device at 150g.
“Players reached out and told us the field was way too hard, describing it as concrete,” Tretter wrote. “Players reported that they couldn’t even wear cleats because they wouldn’t sink into the turf. When we reached out to the league, they told us they were aware of these concerns and were working to remedy them.
“However, instead of delaying the game or finding another way to fix the issue, the league gave the green light to kick off the game as scheduled. Afterward, the league told us that late in the first half, the field finally did fall below the 100g max. But the fact remains that the players in that game had to play on a field that the league acknowledges was not safe. That is beyond frustrating to players and unacceptable in the eyes of our union.”
That’s the problem with any method for testing field conditions. If the field fails, what’s the NFL going to do? Cancel the game? Send everyone home? For a regular-season game or a playoff game, that’s not going to happen.
Even now, the league is dealing with the legal aftermath of a canceled Hall of Fame game more than seven years ago. Telling everyone to leave and come back later (or not at all) would entail potential liability that the league would rather not experience, especially if the league can just shrug it all off and say to both teams, “You guys always say you’d play in a parking lot. Enjoy!”
The only alternative, then, is to take steps aimed at preventing unprecedentedly cold conditions from creating unacceptable field hardness. That’s why they’re warming the field in Carolina this year. It’s something that should be done every year.
The Panthers won’t be making the playoffs this season, but this Sunday’s game factors into the Falcons’ chances of advancing to the postseason and the Panthers’ injury report will factor into the result of the game.
Carolina had a long list of players out of practice Wednesday. Several of them were resting, but edge rusher Brian Burns was sidelined by an ankle injury. Burns missed one game with a concussion earlier this year and leads the Panthers with six sacks.
Tight end Hayden Hurst was limited in practice last week as he tries to recover from a concussion and post-traumatic amnesia and said he hoped to be back in a week or two. Hurst was back out of practice on Wednesday, however.
Wide receiver Adam Thielen, cornerback Tory Hill, cornerback Jaycee Horn, and right tackle Taylor Moton were part of the resting group. Defensive back D’Shawn Jamison (illness), linebacker DJ Johnson (illness), guard Justin McCray (calf), safety Jammie Robinson (illness), and tight end Ian Thomas (ankle) were also out.
Edge rusher Marquis Haynes (back), tight end Tommy Tremble (hip), and defensive tackle DeShawn Williams (knee) were listed as limited.
Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen was asked if the team hit “rock bottom” with Sunday’s 28-6 loss to the Saints and his response summed things up pretty well for the 1-12 team.
Thielen said “we’ve been at rock bottom for a while,” but Sunday’s performance still jumped out as a low point for rookie quarterback Bryce Young and the offense. Young completed 36 percent of his passes and posted his worst passer rating of the season while failing to lead the Panthers to a touchdown. That poor performance unfolded while the team ran for 204 yards and the defense played well enough to keep Carolina within a score until a couple of late touchdowns in the fourth quarter broke things open for the Saints.
“Again, lack of execution, especially for myself,” Young said, via the team’s website. “I missed a lot of things. I thought we played well on the perimeter, played well up front. But I’ve got to continue to get better. . . . I mean, we’re all sick of it. We’re all tired of it, but that doesn’t entitle us to anything. It’s on us, ultimately, why we’re there. And we have to do a better job to prevent that. So no matter how tired we are, you know, we’ve got to be better.”
Thielen said the team has “a lot of confidence” in Young and that he believes these tough times will make Young better in the long run, but the fact that things haven’t gotten better over the course of the season makes it hard to buy into the idea that those better days are right around the corner.
Saints quarterback Derek Carr and center Erik McCoy downplayed a yelling match the two had during the second half of Sunday’s game.
Of course, everyone is happy after a win, and the Saints won 28-6.
McCoy said in the postgame locker room that he “lost his cool” and apologized publicly for the spat caught by Fox cameras.
“Me and Erik have no issue,” Carr said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “In the moment, something happened. The reason doesn’t matter. Everybody wants to know the why. It doesn’t matter. We were both right; we were both wrong. At the same time, we both were like ‘My bad,’ . . . and that was it. And I’ve done that with my two older brothers probably 50 times in my life, and it happens. When it’s in a frustrating moment and that kind of happens, it is intensified, as I’ve learned. Because people want to know ‘Oh no, what’s wrong?’ There really is nothing wrong. We had a moment. I’ve had moments in my 10 years a lot of times, with a coach, a teammate, somebody . . . and I always learned you circle back, you make it right and you keep going.”
Carr was sacked on third-and-two with 3:43 left in the third quarter, with Carr saying something to McCoy that sparked an argument. Offensive lineman James Hurst stepped between his teammates and placed a hand on McCoy’s arm as the players walked off the field.
McCoy slammed down his helmet.
After giving McCoy time to cool down, Carr eventually walked over to McCoy and sat next to him for a conversation. Carr would not elaborate on what prompted the argument.
“I think if you’re ever in a highly competitive environment, and things aren’t going the way that you want it to go, yeah, there’s sometimes that you get frustrated,” head coach Dennis Allen said. “You lash out a little bit. I’m glad that both of them have the balls to at least stand up and fight, you know what I mean? . . . My wife and I argue. It happens. So let’s don’t make too much of it.”
At least two other times this season, Carr has expressed his frustration during a game. . He had an animated conversation with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael in a Week 6 loss to the Texans, and in Week 7, Carr yelled toward receiver Chris Olave.
“I have been showing my emotions a little too much on my sleeve,” Carr said. “I have got to kind of chill out, and that’s me holding myself accountable because that’s not going to help anything.”
The Falcons had a chance to take a tighter grip on the NFC South on Sunday, but their lead in the division wound up slipping through their fingers.
Baker Mayfield’s touchdown pass to Cade Otton with 31 seconds left to play in the game gave the Buccaneers a 29-25 road win over the Falcons. The loss came after the Falcons came back to score 15 fourth quarter points and take a three-point lead over the visitors, but they couldn’t get the final stop they needed to seal the win.
As a result of that result and the Saints win, all three teams are now 6-7 — the Bucs hold the tiebreaker edge at present — with four games left to play. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith focused on how tight things are in the division rather than lamenting Sunday’s result when he spoke to reporters after the game.
“We didn’t get it done today, but our spirit is not broken,” Smith said, via the team’s website. “We’re still in it. It’ll be a wild adventure through the end of this season. Things change so much from week to week. . . . Down the stretch, we have to win games.”
The schedule offers the Falcons some help in that department. They’ll be in Carolina to face the 1-12 Panthers next weekend.
