Simms blasts playing field
Back-to-back games, weather hurting Hard Rock turf.
DAVIE — In his takedown of the Miami Dolphins for the condition of their playing field, analyst Phil Simms said the team was lucky no one got hurt in last weekend’s game against the Oakland Raiders.
Turns out if Simms had gone back just one more home game, he could have pointed to a player who did get hurt: quarterback Jay Cutler.
Cutler cracked two ribs in the Oct. 22 game when he was hit by New York Jets linebacker Jordan Jenkins. Tight end MarQueis Gray was blocking Jenkins on the play but slipped. Although Gray caught himself before falling, the slip was enough to allow Jenkins to get by.
“It’s one of those things that you can’t control,” Gray said Thursday. “It hurt me to see that happen and I was (upset) during that play. And a couple of days after, I still thought about it. It was like, damn, I wore the right cleats and I did my job, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do about it but just try not to let it happen.”
Cutler missed the following week’s game at Baltimore but returned for last Sunday’s 27-24 loss to Oakland, throwing for 311 yards and three touchdowns.
Simms’ rant put the spotlight back on a playing surface that has taken its share of shots, especially early this season when the Hurricanes and Dolphins played on backto-back days. The Dolphins have tried re-sodding the field with limited success.
Coach Adam Gase said Thursday he traditionally walks the field before each game, checking on conditions so he can recommend which cleats players wear to avoid slipping and, worse, injuries. That happened before the Raiders game, but Gase’s plans were sabotaged by a sudden downpour just before kickoff.
“We felt really good before it started raining,” Gase said. “I think we were a little surprised when we came out for the introductions ... and all of a sudden you walk out and it’s a monsoon.”
Although there have been times in the past when the Dolphins’ home field has been considered among the best in the league — even dating to their time in the Orange Bowl — groundskeepers now are being challenged by weather (including Hurricane Irma and a more recent tropical storm). The year-old canopy and “grow” lights also complicate matters.
Gase smirked when asked if he’ll turn some attention to the surface this offseason.
“I’m going to let people do their job,” he said. “My job is to show up and coach.”
Gray said players have tried various types of cleats to improve footing, including a longer cleat called “seven studs,” but added that players have slipped whether they’re wearing the right cleats or the wrong ones.
“The crew people did whatever they could to make sure it was safe for us to play,” Gray said of the Raiders game. “And then throughout the game, everyone’s running and cutting on the field, and it’s going to make it worse. It’s really no one’s fault. It’s just how it is.”
It won’t be an issue for the Dolphins this weekend because they’re at Carolina. They return home Nov. 19 vs. Tampa Bay.
But Saturday, the field again will be on national TV, when the University of Miami hosts Notre Dame.
The Irish planned to have some of their players wear screw-in cleats in practice this week in case they have to change out of their usual molded shoes, which have an entirely different feel. Wearing screw-ins when you’re not used to them also could lead to blisters.
“There’s really not much you can do,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “Everybody’s playing in the same kind of conditions. We’ve seen it on film but they are not unplayable conditions to that point and it’s not something that we’re going to get distracted by.”
As for the Dolphins, Gase said he’s leaving it in the hands of Tom Garfinkel, the club’s president and CEO.
“I think Tom’s done a great job of researching and finding the right solution to kind of get us pointed in the right direction,” Gase said. “Those guys are working hard to make sure that we get this thing squared away.
“It’s a couple of things that occurred . ... Hopefully, we will have this thing fixed by the next time we play at home.”
Simms blasted the conditions on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL.”
“It really did bother me,” Simms said. “In this day and age, that you can’t have a great surface for all these guys? I thought that they were lucky somebody didn’t get hurt.”