NFL reportedly blamed Super Bowl slipping on player's cleats

The NFL reportedly blamed the Super Bowl LVII slipping issue on the field on the player’s cleats, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.

There’s been a lot of conversation about the field conditions out in Arizona for this last Super Bowl, won by the Kansas City Chiefs 38-35 over the Philadelphia Eagles. But the league is apparently not taking full responsibility for the conditions of the field.

According to Florio, the equipment used by players is at fault.

“The NFL has an unofficial excuse for the situation, one that has been communicated when owners ask about it,” Florio wrote. “Per a league source, the league blames the players for not wearing the right shoes. (The Eagles changed their cleats — and it didn’t seem to matter).

“Setting aside the fact that there should have been no reason for the teams to anticipate needing different types and sizes of cleats for a game that supposedly will be played under pristine conditions, the manner in which the field was torn up during the game shows that, regardless of whether the teams were able to properly adjust, the field never, ever should have been in that condition.”

The Super Bowl field conditions were a hot button issue in the minds of many Eagle fans, who said it was a big reason why Philadelphia came up short. Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham, while acknowledging it was a problem, didn’t blame the loss on the turf, cleats or any other field conditions.

Brandon Graham says Chiefs offensive linemen were ‘blessed’

The Super Bowl turf was problematic for both sides, offense and defense and Philadelphia and Kansas City. But Graham spoke out about it once again.

“You need that traction to be able to get off the block and we were slipping a lot,” Graham said in a recent interview on Sports Take with Derrick Gunn & Rob Ellis. “I don’t make excuses. I just know that that’s what was being talked about, us trying to get out of our own head a little bit, too … I’m telling you that O-line, they got blessed, I’ll say that.”

It goes for both teams. The Chiefs couldn’t really find their footing either. If the turf was much more playable, would it have changed the outcome?

That’s unknown. But the Eagles certainly believe they would’ve come out on top in Super Bowl LVII.

“When we looked at the film, man, it was a couple of times where it was if (Josh Sweat) don’t slip, boy, (there would’ve been a) strip sack,” Graham said. “Oh my God, especially that first drive when (Patrick Mahomes) threw it across the middle to (Travis) Kelce. He was right there. He slipped. We could not believe it …

“When we finally looked at the film, I finally looked at it (and) was just like, ‘Man, oh man. But you know, like I said, credit to Kansas City. It’s all love, you know what I’m saying. Them boys played too, they played on that surface too.”