There was a lot of talk about the poor condition of the field after the Super Bowl. According to Danny Amendola, Bill Belichick was prepared for the problem before the Super Bowl in 2015 against the Seattle Seahawks and prescribed special shoes for the Patriots players

The Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles turned into a slippery slope.

The catastrophic condition of the field in Arizona, in which the NFL had invested a high six-figure sum, was one of the dominant topics after the end of the game.

For ex-professional Danny Amendola, however, the poor quality of the turf at State Farm Stadium was nothing new.

The former New England Patriots wide receiver now reveals on his former teammate Chris Long’s podcast that before the Super Bowl XLIX win at the Arizona stadium, head coach Bill Belichick ordered all players to wear shoes with seven-row cleats instead of six.

Shoes unpopular – but helpful

They were unpopular because they gave the players the impression of being slower due to their greater weight. Nevertheless: Belichick’s announcement brought success. The Patriots won the title.

According to Amendola, the field in Arizona is usually wet with dew during evening games and therefore more slippery. So the problem is well known in the industry.

That’s exactly why the 37-year-old takes the teams to task for adapting better to the situation there: “On this surface, you have to change the tyres and switch to shoes with seven studs. […] Look at the shoes everyone who slipped [in Super Bowl LVII] was wearing. They probably had the wrong tyres on them.”

After the Super Bowl, several players had made negative comments about the turf. But – as we now know thanks to Amendola – the NFL stars could have known…