The Ravens and Steelers are set for a playoff grudge match on Saturday night in Pittsburgh. After splitting the regular season series 1-1, there’s not much between the two teams, except animosity. For the Ravens, there are plenty of reasons to hate the Steelers. They have a head coach who thinks he’s a linebacker and dirty players who seem to enjoy knocking Ravens unconscious. Torrey Smith doesn’t even like the Steelers’ grass.
“It’s terrible, man. They need to go ahead and put some turf up there or something,” the Ravens wide receiver said. “But, you know that’s the case. Apparently the field gets a lot of use, so that’s good for them, but it’s terrible for us playing this late.”
In true AFC North fashion, the Steelers stick with grass at Heinz Field. Around the league, however, the natural surface doesn’t make Pittsburgh beloved by other teams proud to see the upholding the proud traditions of the game. By the end of the season, the field is usually in terrible condition, and no one wants to play there. According to ESPN, Heinz Field has been voted the worst grass field in the NFL twice.
In a rare moment of meteorological certainty, forecasters say there’s a 100 percent chance of rain on Saturday night in Pittsburgh, so the field could go from terrible to mud-bath pretty quickly. John Harbaugh doesn’t appear worried, though. Instead of leading his team onto the frozen tundra of the Owings Mills practice fields, the head coach kept the team indoors all week.
“I like to think that our schemes are weatherproof,” Harbaugh said. “We can handle whatever weather we get.”
