The playing surface emerged from the soccer game without any issues, and players said it was decidedly faster and more compact than Candlestick Park’s grass, which tended to be brittle in the summer and a little mushy in the fall and winter.
Cornerback Perrish Cox said he was prepared to constantly change his cleats to find the the right fit at Levi’s but ended up sticking with the molded cleats he was wearing.
“It was better than Candlestick, that’s for sure,” he said.
Said fullback Bruce Miller: “I saw one spot come up along the edge of the field, but I’m never going to be over there in that corner of the end zone anyway. But I thought it was great. I thought it played well, played fast. The groundskeepers – they do an awesome job.”
Dawson, who spent 14 years in Cleveland before joining the 49ers last year, said he’s mostly worn long cleats on his plant leg throughout his career. Now he’s using a run-of-the-mill molded cleat, which he said is the best footwear for a kicker.
“It’s very playable right now,” Dawson said. “I’m anxious to see how it holds up when the big boys get out there. But from everything I’ve read about it, it’s the type of grass that re-grows very quickly.”
Reading the wind has proven a bit more difficult, something Dawson said he hopes to master by the end of the preseason.
Last year, he learned how to kick in an odd-shaped stadium that was between a steep hill and windy San Francisco Bay. The breezes in Santa Clara are warmer and more uniform, almost always coming from the northwest.
But that also happens to be the site of a huge notch in Levi’s. It allows the wind to enter the facility where it bounces around.
“What I learned so far is, depending on the velocity of the wind, that affects how hard it starts bouncing and swirling,” Dawson said. “And that’s not all that uncommon for stadiums that have open corners.”
NFL kickers are certifiable nuts about weather, and Lee and Dawson have plenty of tricks at their disposal.
They’ll watch their kicks and their opponents’ in warmups. They’ll pay close attention to any pregame pyrotechnics to see which way the smoke drifts. And they have plenty of weather apps on their phones that they’ll consult. Dawson said he’s found one that is particularly accurate, but he wouldn’t divulge the identity.
Dawson also has heard the 49ers plan to install a weather device on the stadium that fans can use to better plan for the game.
Said Dawson, “Hopefully by that point, if I hear ‘southwest wind,’ I’ll know what that means inside the stadium.”
the fuk is that but my homie went to the soccer game and it took him 2 hours to get back to the city
I'm supposed to hit the denver preseason but Idk if i can deal with all that bs
