The Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens dominated the headlines less about their Week 3 matchup and more about the field concerns at the Maracanã Stadium, which is hosting the first NFL game in Rio de Janeiro. Just before the game, however, NFL Field Director Nick Pappas acknowledged that there is no need to worry about the field, as they had made additional improvements to the field.

“We have an independent inspector that comes in, walks with myself, walks with a member of the NFLPA,” Pappas said. “They were here yesterday. Performed that test. Things check out. We’ve made additional improvements to the field that we think were helpful.”

As that happened, former NFL star and current CBS analyst JJ Watt took to his social media just hours before the kickoff and shared a telling update, posting a couple of pictures of the field from the stadium. One of the pictures featured a visible patterned section of the surface around the yard line, with numerous thin, closely spaced lines running through the grass.

In the second photo, Watt is physically holding a bundle of thin green synthetic fibers that he says he pulled from the field. The photograph also shows the natural grass surface underneath. While sharing the photos, however, Watt acknowledged that he should give the field the benefit of the doubt until the Cowboys and the Ravens’ players play on it.

“I’m giving the field the benefit of the doubt until we see reason not to, once the players are on it,” Watt wrote on X. “But I will present real photos I just took. 1st Photo: The 10 yard line, between the hashes. 2nd Photo: A sample of the artificial turf plugs threaded into the field.”

The concerns around the field have been building days before the kickoff, especially after the September 17 Flamengo match against Independiente del Valle. Flamengo players publicly criticized the surface. Midfielder Giorgian De Arrascaeta said the field was getting progressively worse and making it increasingly difficult to control the ball.

At the same time, goalkeeper Agustín Rossi criticized the condition of the penalty areas and pointed to bumps and poor areas of the grass.

However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently sat down with Stephen A. Smith, during which Smith asked about the rising field concerns at the Maracanã Stadium. Goodell, meanwhile, admitted that the issue is for the soccer players and not for the NFL players.

“You know, Stephen, the complaints that you’ve heard were for the soccer players that were playing on this field,” Goodell told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. “So they have a different barometer, a different standard. Theirs is about the ball rolling smoothly on a grass field, right? That’s not our issue. Our issue is stability in it. Proper footing and they’re two different things. We saw that in the World Cup.”

For now, both the NFL and Watt appear to be taking a cautious approach, with the league insisting that the necessary improvements have been made while Watt has chosen to wait for the players to test the surface before concluding. In simple terms, the Cowboys-Ravens matchup will ultimately provide the clearest test of whether the Maracanã field delivers the stability and footing the NFL says it requires.