The first ever NFL game played in Rio De Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium was supposed to be about the NFL increasing its global football. Instead, the Week 3 clash between Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens brought more headlines about the turf than the matchup itself. But pushing against the narratives about the terrible condition of the field, NFL Field Director Nick Pappas had noted there’s no need to worry because of the upgrades they’ve made to the field.

“We have an independent inspector that comes in, walks with myself, walks with a member of the NFLPA,” Pappas said. “They were here yesterday. Performed that test. Things check out. We’ve made additional improvements to the field that we think were helpful.”

But when CBS analyst JJ Watt walked the field himself hours before kickoff, he decided to share a telling update on his social media. Watt posted two pictures of the field. One of them featured a visible patterned section of the surface around the 10-yard line, with numerous thin, closely spaced lines running through the grass that looked starkly different from the turf around it.

In the second photo, Watt held a bundle of thin green synthetic fibers between his fingers which looked like he’d pulled from the field. The photograph also showed the turf underneath – albeit a bit blurry as the picture focused on the fibres Watt was displaying. While these pictures might have sparked major concerns, Watt wouldn’t drop his verdict just yet.

“I’m giving the field the benefit of the doubt until we see reason not to, once the players are on it,” Watt wrote on X. “But I will present real photos I just took. 1st Photo: The 10 yard line, between the hashes. 2nd Photo: A sample of the artificial turf plugs threaded into the field.”

The concerns around the field had been building days before the kickoff, especially after the September 17 Flamengo match against Independiente del Valle. Flamengo players publicly criticized the surface. Midfielder Giorgian De Arrascaeta said the field was getting progressively worse and making it increasingly difficult to control the ball. At the same time, his teammate, goalkeeper Agustín Rossi also criticized the condition of the field.

“There is no need to talk about the pitch, everyone can see it,” Rossi said in an interview. “With the way we play, it is unbelievable to have a pitch like this. Both penalty areas are in a terrible state. If you look, there are bumps everywhere. There will still be an NFL game during the international break. After that game I hope the pitch is better.”

This surface hosted another game – the Sept. 20 clash between Flamengo and Red Bull Bragantino. The NFL was left with an extremely short window to conduct repairs and paint the gridiron lines. Then, JC Tretter, the executive director of the NFLPA issued a statement on the condition of the turf.

“Based on our expert’s assessment, the field needed better traction and stability,” Tretter noted. “They recommended reinforced stitching to help the surface hold together and brought in equipment to reinforce as much of the field as possible before the game. Our experts will remain engaged and continue evaluating conditions through kickoff.”

Tretter also acknowledged the main risk about the field would have been that it’d be “loose, patchy, and lead to excessive slipping,” flagging “playability and performance” issues. To that end, GrassMaster stitching machines came in to add synthetic fibres into the ground – the same fibres Watt displayed in his pictures.

As for the biggest voice in the league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Roger Goodell recently sat down with Stephen A. Smith. When Smith asked about the rising field concerns at the Maracanã Stadium, Goodell made the case that the issues Flamengo and other soccer clubs have faced might not apply to the Cowboys and the Ravens.

“You know, Stephen, the complaints that you’ve heard were for the soccer players that were playing on this field,” Goodell told Smith. “So they have a different barometer, a different standard. Theirs is about the ball rolling smoothly on a grass field, right? That’s not our issue. Our issue is stability in it. Proper footing and they’re two different things. We saw that in the World Cup.

“And so what we’re working with the players’ association, but also with all of our partners, is trying to improve the technology both for grass and artificial fields and make it consistent. We think the big thing is consistency in the field so the players can adjust from practice to games, and when you go into a different market you’re having one game here and what we’ve had is our experts go down here. They’re confident in the ability of the field to hold in an NFL standard, and that’s what we’re going to continue to work toward.”

Now, with all the talk about the Maracanã Stadium’s turf, it’s almost poetic that the game came down to the wire, and got settled by two kicks. While Dallas took the early lead, it never looked like Baltimore was out of the game. After three lead changes, the Cowboys trailed Baltimore by three points with a minute and a half in regulation. A 9-play, 60-yard drive orchestrated by Dak Prescott brought them to field goal range, and Brandon Aubrey tied the game 31-31 with a 23-yard field goal with just 7 seconds on the clock.

It looked like the game would go into overtime, but with a single throw to Zay Flowers, Lamar Jackson drove the Ravens 27 yard downfield from their own 35-yard line, and Tyler Loop kicked a 56-yard field goal to seal the game 34-31.

But this game wasn’t devoid of injuries. The Cowboys lost Jalen Thompson to a hamstring injury. Shavon Revel Jr. also suffered a fourth quarter injury and was deemed questionable to return. Jonathan Bullard suffered the same fate. Donovan Ezeiruaku and Marquise Bell both had injury scares but eventually returned to the game.

As for Baltimore, Ethan Pocic exited the fourth quarter with a knee injury, Jovaughn Gwyn also suffered an ankle injury in the game. Mark Andrews and Kyle Hamilton also had injury scares but came back for the action.

With so many injuries in a single game, the questions about the turf will certainly be raised everywhere. It will be interesting to see how the league handles these narratives. But for now, the league has delivered a massive game that kept Maracanã Stadium at the end of its seat till the very last second.