Pittsburgh Steelers

Steelers blame field conditions for Suisham's injury

Published Aug. 12, 2015 1:11 p.m. ET

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The FieldTurf surface at Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio, site of last Sunday's Hall of Fame game between Pittsburgh and Minnesota, will be replaced next month, but it's a month late for the Steelers.

Many players are pointing to the field's condition as the reason for kicker Shaun Suisham's season-ending knee injury. They say the bad turf caused Suisham to lose his footing and thereby tear his ACL on the opening kickoff of the second half.

"I hated that turf," said safety Robert Golden, who did not play Sunday night because of a knee injury of his own, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It was old, chewed up, very hard. I’m just happy most of our guys got off healthy. Now they’re redoing it? I don’t agree with that, that’s bad, putting us at risk like that on that turf."

Fullback Will Johnson did play, and said he was one of several players who had problems with footing.

"I actually watched the play (when Suisham was hurt) and it looked like it happened before contact,"Johnson said. "It was an unfortunate situation, and I think a lot of it has to do with the turf itself. I had a couple of plays there, especially in the middle of the field, where I was sliding. I saw a lot of guys losing their footing."

Joe Horrigan, vice president of communications for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told the Post-Gazette that the playing surfaced passed inspection with the league prior to the game. He added that the turf is being replaced as part of a stadium reconstruction next month.

h/t: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette