Good football coaches are also good politicians. They know, as evidenced by the photo attached to this post, the importance of supporting other local teams during a postseason run. They also know what to say, and what not to say, when it comes to sensitive subjects.
On Monday, a question was posed to Giants coach John Harbaugh about the recent placement of grass at MetLife Stadium for the World Cup — to be removed and replaced with artificial turf that the players don’t like.
“Oh, you’re going to try to draw me in to the turf versus grass,” Harbaugh said. “And Roger [Goodell] is gonna call me up and he’s gonna get mad at me because I’m probably not gonna say what he wants me to say, so. That’s all I’m gonna say. That’s all I’m gonna say. It’s a good surface out there. It’s a good artificial surface, I’ll say that. How’s that?”
Harbaugh didn’t need to say what he wanted to say. Beyond the fact that what he would have said is obvious, Harbaugh has previously spoken about his preference for football on grass.
In 2015, when the Ravens switched from turf to grass, Harbaugh made his feelings about the move clear.
“It kind of epitomizes what Baltimore is all about, the history of football in Baltimore,” Harbaugh said. “To me, a Baltimore football team should be playing on a grass field in Baltimore.”
The sentiment is true, regardless of the city. After all, it was the Baltimore Colts against Harbaugh’s New York Giants on grass in the 1958 NFL Championship, known as the Greatest Game Ever Played.
Beyond tradition, the players strongly prefer it. As Devin McCourty said on PFT Live, coaches do, too. It’s the owners who want to have a cheaper surface that makes it easier to host events other than football games when the football team isn’t using the stadium for football.
The fact that Harbaugh anticipated a phone call from the Commissioner perfectly captures the current state of the debate. It has become not a question of what’s right for the players. It’s a collective bargaining issue. The NFL will hold the rope on turf, if only to get the best possible concession from the NFL Players Association if/when all stadiums embrace grass.
And the powers-that-be won’t want anyone from management saying anything that will weaken the ability to maximize the return the owners receive if/when they finally show proper respect for the players — and when they decide to properly protect their investment in them.
