Current, former Chiefs respond to report of NFL blaming players for slips at Super Bowl

Last month, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham was on a sports-talk radio show and was asked about the poor field conditions at State Farm Stadium for Super Bowl LVII.

Graham said the Chiefs offensive line was the biggest beneficiary of the slippery field.

“I’m telling you that O-line, they got blessed,” Graham said of the Chiefs. “I’ll say that.”

After Graham’s comment went viral, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported Monday that NFL owners asked the league about the poor field conditions.

“The NFL has an unofficial excuse for the situation, one that has been communicated when owners ask about it,” Florio wrote. “Per a league source, the league blames the players for not wearing the right shoes. (The Eagles changed their cleats — and it didn’t seem to matter.)“

The Chiefs knew early on that the field would be an issue.

While on the Pardon My Take podcast, tight end Travis Kelce was asked when the Chiefs realized the field would be a problem.

“It was really Sunday,” Kelce said. “Sunday you kind of went out there and you started running around like, it was a little slick.”

Lions safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was with the Eagles last season, echoed Graham’s comment about how things would have been different for Philadelphia had the field been in better shape.

Gardner-Johnson wrote on Twitter that he went through three pairs of cleats before the game, trying to find the right ones for the field.

“Run that bowl back on legit grass , the Dline SMASH that Oline I’m sorry,” Gardner-Johnson tweeted.

Former Chiefs left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. didn’t let that comment slide. The Chiefs didn’t allow a sack in Super Bowl LVII.

“We talking about grass on the biggest stage…Y’all rush plan was to win with games when rushing 4 with a mix of man and zone thinking that (crap) was getting home !!!!” Brown wrote. “On top of that y’all rushed 5 with Cov 1 and a splash of 3!! Let’s not act like the field helped me stop a bull rush, I gotta get cleats in the ground to stop it. If anything it helped y’all!!”

Former Chiefs safety Juan Thornhill responded to that tweet and wrote: “Played on the same field.”

Like Kelce, Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed said the team was prepared for the poor field conditions.

“That’s why I love our coaches they warned us before ...,” Sneed wrote in a tweet he later deleted.

Perhaps the best message about the field for Super Bowl LVII came from Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

He simply wrote: “Huh?? . But who cares we won.”