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The Houston Texans’ home opener was delayed because Hurricane Ike damaged the roof of Reliant Stadium.
But while the stadium itself is now in good enough shape that the Texans played their home opener Sunday against Indianapolis, one Colts player says the field surface needs work.
Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden had an MRI on his left knee Monday, and he said it was not another player who injured his knee but the playing field at Reliant Stadium. Hayden reportedly stepped in one of the divisions between the sections of the grass playing field during the game.
“The field was not the greatest,” Hayden said. “It had a couple of holes and I stepped in one and my knee kind of buckled.”
The Texans are playing the rest of the season with the roof open because Ike damaged five roof panels.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I wonder what NFL Co-Commissioner Bill Polian will do about this. Perhaps he could get Goddell to change their record to 4-0
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Rating: 3.8 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Hayden is complaining up a little hole in the turf. Imagine what all the poor 0-4 Texans and its fans have to endure besides a little hole in the turf. All thats left of the season is to hope they won’t have another losing record like every year they been in the league. Yet some clown is complaining his knee doesn’t feel good due to a hole. The Texans are a joke, and Hayden is as well.
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Rating: 2.75 / 5 with 9 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Wow, I cannot believe he had the gall to say that after the tragedy the fans, players, and Houstonians had to endure. STFU
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Rating: 3.25 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Jeez, the Colts are whining about everything this year. That’s what happens when a once great team cannot handle their own mediocrity. The world is out to get them.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
“All thats left of the season is to hope they won’t have another losing record like every year they been in the league”
Actually last year they didn’t have a losing record, they went 8-8. And I think this is a competitive Texans team that will have a winning record despite the start. I remember a few years back when the Titans started out 1-4 only to secure 2nd seed in the playoffs and went on to the AFC Champ game. Matter of fact it was one of those weird years where all the teams that were supposed to win were losing… just like this year.
Best of luck Houston.
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October 7th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Hurricane troubles aside, if the field’s not up to par, they shouldn’tbe playing on it.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Added Hayden,
“It’s definitely not as nice as Lucas Oil Stadium. We’ve won so many games there!”
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Oh yeah I know that was such a vicious remark….I’m not saying the people of Houston didn’t go through a tragedy, but the remark he made has absolutely nothing to do with the hurricane. It could have potentially happened in any other stadium.
On an intelligent note…I think this is something that should be looked into. If the league is so concerned about player safety, than I should think having safe playing conditions would be a top priority. Perhaps Hayden is just being a baby, or perhaps it really is legitimate.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
If it has that Field Turf stuff, this guy is right. Ray Lewis talked about that in the offseason, saying that he thinks there is a risse in knee and ankle sprains due to the increase inthe use of Field Turf. I have a feeling that this will be a big issue in the coming years.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Question: How did you hurt your knee?
Answer: I stepped in a gap between sections of turf and tweaked it.
Where is the whining? Is it just that the player quoted is a Colt and thereby causes a knee-jerk reation from the Flor-idiots out there?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
It has nothing to do with the hurricane and it’s not field turf. For some strange reason, the grass in Reliant is kept in patches, I guess so it’ll be easier to take out of the stadium. You can tell late in the season when you have 3×5 patches of brown grass.
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October 7th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Reliant uses a 8 x 8 interlocking turf tray system called StrathAyr. The field for the Indy game was installed a few days before the game. It’s the same system that’s been in use there since the stadium opened in ‘02. It was rated as one of the best playing surfaces in the league by the players in ‘04 and there’s been very few complaints over the years except for keeping the grass in the shady areas alive in the later months of the season. They have the equivalent of 2 1/2 fields worth of trays available to swap in and out any time it’s needed.
http://www.athleticturf.net/athleticturf/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=148868
http://www.zehetbauer.at/fileadmin/english/6_ModulAyr.pdf
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
October 8th, 2008 at 9:07 am
@aj
Thanks for the good explanation!
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October 8th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Sheesh! You’d think these guys could get turf right after decades of research. Field turf, Astroturf… every kind of turf seems to get complaints. Even the real grass at the Linc looks like a mud bog by the end of the season. There’s got to be a better answer somewhere.
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