The Rams and Ravens will take the field on Monday night just two days after the USC Trojans hosted UCLA at the Coliseum. As a result, the field probably won’t be in pristine condition, which could cause some problems for players.
According to Steve Wyche of NFL Network, the grounds crew has been out trying to get the field ready since Monday morning. The USC-UCLA game “really churned up this field,” according to Wyche, but the crew has the field “looking very good.”
“They have been putting down a sand-based granular substance on here to help with moisture and adhesion,” he added.
The field also had to be covered with the tarp Wednesday, which didn’t help, either.
Injuries and field conditions for Ravens-Rams tonight. Field crews have been working hard to help get things in ideal shape after Saturday's USC-UCLA game churned up the turf. #NFLNow @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/KBjzvoOhrn
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) November 25, 2019
Sean McVay was asked this past week about the possibility of the field being in rough shape after the USC game, but he didn’t seem too concerned about it thanks to the work done by the equipment staff.
“I think our guys in equipment do a great job of kind of educating our players,” McVay said. “You could even see last Sunday, it gets to be slippery, there’s some moisture on the field and you want to make sure that you’ve got your footing. Really, I’ll probably be able to tell you after the game, see how messed up it ends up getting. Usually, (Head of Equipment) Brendan Burger and his staff do a great job of putting our players in a position to make sure they are ready to go equipment-wise.”
The Rams won’t be back at the Coliseum until Week 14, so the grounds crew will have plenty of time to work on the field, which it sounds like they’ll be doing a lot of.