Seahawks on Grass

2016: On field turf and derivitives the Seahawks are 7-1 with the offense averaging 26.5 ppg which would rank #7 in the league overall. On natural grass we are 0-2-1 and the offense averages 4 (four, cuatro) ppg, dead last by a light year. Thankfully, our only true natural grass game left on the schedule is week 17 at SF. Better news is that there is almost a zero chance we draw a playoff game on grass. AT&T Stadium uses Matrix turf and SB LI site NRG Stadium just installed something called UBU Sports Speed Series S5-M.

More grassy news?

Since 2012, The RW Era: The Seahawks are 12-10-1 on grass with three of those wins coming against back up quaterbacks the likes of Mark Sanchez, Ryan Lindley and Jimmy Claussen. That leaves a record of 9-10-1 against teams with their usual starters at QB and on grass. We are 0-4 against AFC teams and playing on grass with starting QBS at the helm, to include Rivers, Tannehill, Smith and Brady in SB49. The only win v. an AFC team on grass is against the Claussen Ravens last year, and they paid us back by breaking Thomas Rawls' leg. Ouch!

STAY OFF THE GRASS!

I reserve the right to not be 100% correct in extrapolating my data, but I'm pretty sure I have it right. The Seahawks pretty much suck on grass, especially the offense!

Cheers!

Moses should be tested for it, for sure!

I had a hunch our record was poor on grass. Grassyass for the report

Wonder if the grass neutralizes the advantage in speed. Our d-line is undersized, and I wonder what the in game stats are for the grass fields. Or maybe itit's the cleats

cymatica":39fpii5u said:

Wonder if the grass neutralizes the advantage in speed. Our d-line is undersized, and I wonder what the in game stats are for the grass fields. Or maybe itit's the cleats

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This. When they do get to a grass field, I imagine it's a bit of a crap shoot when choosing cleats and stuff. Yes, natural turf slows them down.

Nicely worded topic - maybe you should have posted this an hour and 10 minutes earlier for extra hilarity

On a more serious note: grass scares me because of injury. And I also think it gets in the head of our kicker

Good post. Definitely a weakness for this team. Affected us in Carolina last year.

Very interesting topic that I believe has a lot of merit to it. Our defense thrives on speed, the grass doesn't help that. And then there's the topic of field conditions as the season goes on and as the weather gets worse and worse.

This is yet another reason why a first round bye this year is so vital for our Super Bowl hopes.

So grass is the Seahawk's Kryptonite?

Mizak":xpdg495d said:

So grass is the Seahawk's Kryptonite?

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How about Xanax?

Nice work, SoCal. This is both alarming and fascinating. FIRE THE GRASS!

What got ya curious about the affect of grassy fields?

Hasselbeck":1x6402hh said:

This is yet another reason why a first round bye this year is so vital for our Super Bowl hopes.

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Good point. The only time the Hawks gave got to the Superbowl was with the #1 seed.

However, I'll just add that the Cowboys & Falcons play on field turf, so if we do end up having to go on the road to play either of those teams, the field won't be the issue

It depends on the strain.

I wanted to bring this up but wasnt sure of stats.
thanks for bringing to light.
Might have something to do with playing in the heat as well. San diego, miami, TB , all on grass and warm weather, combined with cross counntry flight. Not a good combination.

Jerhawk":1a82ddll said:

Hasselbeck":1a82ddll said:

This is yet another reason why a first round bye this year is so vital for our Super Bowl hopes.

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Good point. The only time the Hawks gave got to the Superbowl was with the #1 seed.

However, I'll just add that the Cowboys & Falcons play on field turf, so if we do end up having to go on the road to play either of those teams, the field won't be the issue

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Depends on how short they cut it. :mrgreen:

seahawksny":1sxk6kbr said:

I wanted to bring this up but wasnt sure of stats.
thanks for bringing to light.
Might have something to do with playing in the heat as well. San diego, miami, TB , all on grass and warm weather, combined with cross counntry flight. Not a good combination.

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That's fair point too about temperatures. What was the game temp in Tampa, though?

McGruff":1bs3c33h said:

seahawksny":1bs3c33h said:

I wanted to bring this up but wasnt sure of stats.
thanks for bringing to light.
Might have something to do with playing in the heat as well. San diego, miami, TB , all on grass and warm weather, combined with cross counntry flight. Not a good combination.

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That's fair point too about temperatures. What was the game temp in Tampa, though?

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I heard on the game that it was 86 degrees.

soxhawk":1nceo5ge said:

Good post. Definitely a weakness for this team. Affected us in Carolina last year.

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And it wasn't just grass, it was sloppy destroyed grass thanks to the Belk Bowl. The FBS needs to do away with half of these pointless bowl games that ESPN came up with just to make money and stay afloat. There's no reason a professional playing surface should look like that for a playoff game, especially when the Panthers had a bye week.

BirdsCommaAngry":3hpqleto said:

Nice work, SoCal. This is both alarming and fascinating. FIRE THE GRASS!

What got ya curious about the affect of grassy fields?

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Something about how poorly our offensive line played at Raymond James this past week reminded me of the 1st half of our divisional playoff game last year at Bank of America. In both games the Seahawks were pushed around for the first 20-25 minutes and then they seemed to get there footing. Unfortunately, the offense could not finish any drives against Tampa Bay once they adjusted to the slow field. Two very poor Russell Wilson interceptions sealed the deal.

Including that playoff game, the Seahawks are 0-3-1 in their last four on grass and they held a lead for exactly zero minutes.

In the RW Era, slow starts on grass are hard to watch. If you look at the combination of the ten games that were, Non Division + Actual Starter QB + Grass = the Seahawks have been out scored 66-7 in the first quarter. The only score came on a Percy Harvin end around against San Diego which was clearly not a touchdown. Percy stepped out of bounds at the 40 or something like that. Take away that blown call, that's an offense that has been shutout 10 out of 10 times in the 1st quarter given the criteria mentioned above.

Maybe Paul Allen should foot the bill for another practice field that is Bermuda grass, high cut and soft soil. They could practice on that during the week of away games on grass.

SoCalSeahawk":2540m99g said:

Maybe Paul Allen should foot the bill for another practice field that is Bermuda grass, high cut and soft soil. They could practice on that during the week of away games on grass.

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I think this idea has merit.
Anybody know how we could get it AND the supporting data to somebody that matters?

Serious question.