At Super Bowl, Chiefs will end season where it began. Two players seek better memories

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie don’t anticipate an eerie feeling when they revisit State Farm Stadium for Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles next weekend.

But it can’t be ruled out.

Neither player finished the Chiefs’ 44-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in the season-opening game. Butker and McDuffie suffered injuries that sidelined them for several weeks.

After the game, Chiefs coach Andy Reid blamed loose turf for both injuries. Butker left the field in a cart after rolling his left ankle on a kickoff. McDuffie strained a hamstring.

After Butker was hurt, safety Justin Reid took over the Chiefs’ kickoff and extra-point duties, making one of two. Butker then returned and made a 54-yard field goal and three extra points, but he missed the Chiefs’ games over the next four weeks, sitting out for the first time in his six-year NFL career.

“It was definitely tough,” Butker said. “It was the first time I had a major injury. You’re not traveling with the team for away games, sitting at the house for the home games with my children watching it on TV. It was a very odd feeling.”

Same for McDuffie. One of two rookies to start the Week 1 game, McDuffie’s debut lasted 32 plays. He was placed on injured reserve and missed the next eight weeks.

“I’d never had an injury that disabled me for that long,” McDuffie said.

The Cardinals pushed back against Reid’s complaints about the turf; a team spokesman said players had ranked the field among the NFL’s best.

Butker and McDuffie played key roles in helping the Chiefs reach their third Super Bowl in four years. Butker booted a 45-yard field with three seconds remaining last weekend as the Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

McDuffie returned to his starting role immediately. Against the Bengals, he had two passes defended and a tackle for loss.

Out in Arizona, meanwhile, the process for growing the Super Bowl turf began one year ago at a Phoenix-area sod farm that housed the hybrid Bermuda grass with perennial rye grass. The turf was laid at State Farm Stadium after the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 and is being maintained by a grounds crew that includes Kansas City’s George Toma, who had worked all 57 Super Bowls.

“We feel very confident in what we have here and we know we’re going to do everything we can to ensure that it’s prepped and ready to perform at the highest level for the biggest game of the year,” NFL senior director of events planning Eric Finkelstein told The Arizona Republic.

Butker has changed his kickoff approach because of the injury. Instead of beginning his approach 11 yards from the ball, he stands five yards behind the tee.

“Doing that approach I feel like I can handle a slippery surface,” he said. “The more momentum you have going to the ball, the better the turf has to be. The five-yard approach is a lot safer.”

Still, Butker said he has confidence in the field.

“The field will definitely be great,” he said.