The playing surface at Super Bowl LVII in Arizona has generated quite a bit of controversy after players slipped throughout the game as a result of the poor field conditions. And apparently, this isn’t the first time the field conditions have been an issue for a Super Bowl in that stadium. But last time, at least one coach had his team prepared.
This week, former New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola revealed that when he played with the team in Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona, head coach Bill Belichick knew that there would be problems with the playing surface and mandated that team wear cleats with seven studs to provide extra traction.
“When you play a night game in AZ, for some reason the grass always gets a little dewy at night, and it’s so slick,” Amendola said on Chirs Long’s Green Light podcast, according to Boston.com. “I’ve worn seven studs on that field numerous times.”
Even though the extra studs make the cleats a little bit heavier, Amendola said that the extra traction makes all the difference on a playing surface like that.
“On that surface, you’ve got to switch the tires out and put the seven-studs in,” Amendola said. “I feel like you get a lot better traction. You don’t feel like you can play as fast in them, but at the same time, you’re chopping it up, you’re gripping the turf. . . . Anybody that slipped [in Super Bowl LVII], look at the cleats they were wearing. They were probably wearing the wrong tires.”
It sounds like the Eagles and Chiefs should have considered wearing different cleats.
