Thursday Night Football might look like Thursday Night Hockey.
The Raiders (10-2) visit the Chiefs in a game that could ultimately decide the AFC West, and according to Courtney Fallon of the NFL Network, the playing surface froze under the tarp overnight at Arrowhead Stadium.
Just spoke to #Chiefs grounds crew. Heaters were installed underneath Arrowhead turf in April, but an ice layer froze under tarp overnight. pic.twitter.com/aXhnE8MlLa
— Courtney Fallon (@CourtneyFallon_) December 8, 2016
Fallon reported that the heaters under the field are on and that workers were tending to the turf and letting the sun soften up the ice. However, the high temperature in Kansas City today is expected to be only 26 degrees.
Former Colt Reggie Wayne of the NFL Network said that the Colts went to Arrowhead for a game on Dec. 23, 2012, and a patch of turf in one of the red zones was particularly icy. He said one of the Chiefs players told him that they knew no Colts receivers would go into that area and were able to load up their coverage on the other side of the field.
The Colts still won that game 20-13 and Wayne caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Andrew Luck with four minutes left.
That was a 2-14 Chiefs team, however. The 2016 Chiefs are 9-3. If they happen to know the rough spots on the field when it gets icy, that could give them an edge if the field conditions don’t improve in the hours before the game.
And old-school Raiders fans might have an unwelcome flashback to the 1975 AFC championship game in Pittsburgh.
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