Pittsburgh Steelers Bye Week: Heinz Field Spared Extra Usage On Monday
Nov 20, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; A general view of the football field and seating area of Ralph Wilson Stadium after a major snow storm hit the area. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Steelers are enjoying a weekend off, and will probably be hitting the couches this Sunday and Monday. Their next game is at home in Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon against the New Orleans Saints. Luckily for them, the field will be spared extra use during their weekend off.
Buffalo, NY is buried in four feet of snow. More snow is expected Friday and Saturday, and the NFL announced that they will not press the city and Bills to get ready for the game against the Jets that was to be played at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The NFL considered cities and teams that were on bye weeks or had facilities that could handle back to back games – Sunday afternoon and Monday night. Heinz Field was on the short list due to the Steelers bye week this weekend. Fortunately, the NFL went with the Jets and Bills playing the game in Detroit.
The WPIAL Football finals are this weekend and Pitt has a home game against Syracuse – all taking place at Heinz. Four games will be played on Friday alone, and then a fifth will be played when Pitt takes the field. The turf at Heinz Field can barely take the punishment from a Pitt/Steelers home stand. Can you imagine what that crap-tastic turf would be like after four high school games, a college game, and then an NFL game? It’s right around this time of year that the field becomes beat up and more difficult than usual to play on, which lasts for the rest of the season despite the grounds folks replacing chunks of turf over the next month. It’s no coincidence it’s due to all this extra usage and really crappy weather this time of year – although this weekend is just light snow and clouds.
It’s a good thing that the NFL game got moved to Detroit. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want Rex Ryan on that field anyways.