Eagles back Saquon Barkleythe three hits and Packers strategist Love JordanThe late injury to made headlines in the Eagles’ win on Friday night, but another highlight of the NFL’s first game in Brazil was the condition of the playing surface.
Players from both teams struggled to keep their feet on the turf at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. Barkley slipped and lost five yards on his first carry as a safety for the Eagles and Packers Xavier McKinneyBarkley’s former Giants teammate also said, “There were instances where I slipped.” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert compared the ground to the slippery surface Arizona for Super Bowl LVII and the quarterback Jalen is in pain also mentioned the difficulties.
“I mean, you all saw over there that it was kind of hard to get traction” Hurts said, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “It’s definitely a challenge on that field. It’s not the kind of field we’re used to playing on. We’ve been on this field before. They’ve had to play on this field, too. I’m just glad we found a way to solve it as a team, overcome it.”
The NFL plans to host more international games in the future and the quality of the fields it uses will likely come under greater scrutiny after seeing how things played out on Friday.
