Sunday's Baltimore Ravens-Dallas Cowboys NFL game set for the Maracana in Brazil is expected to continue as planned despite what the league deemed a 'record' amount of rain
Maracana
The first NFL game in Rio will be held Sunday at the Maracana(Image: Getty Images)
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Reports of record rainfall in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have threatened to dampen the NFL's scheduled contest between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys at the famous Maracana Stadium on Sunday.
Despite the concerning weather report, the contest is "likely" to still go on as planned, per new intel from NBC. The Ravens and Cowboys plan on flying to Rio this Thursday. Last year, the Los Angeles Chargers knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
NFL field director Nick Pappas told ESPN on Monday that the league has "no concerns" about the potentially wet field conditions despite what he called a "recond kind of rainfall over the last six weeks."
Augustin Rossi is a goalkeeper who plays for Flamengo, a football club based in Rio that plays at the Maracana. He flagged the field conditions this week in an interview that quickly went viral.
"It's unbelievable that we're playing on a field like this," Rossi said, via a translation. "If you look at it, there are bumps everywhere. There's still going to be an NFL game here during the international break. After that game, I hope the field is in better shape."
Sunday's matchup is the league's third game in Brazil, but the first in Rio and at the Maracana, the home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup final.
September is a typically wet period in Brazil. Even though the game will continue as planned, expect signs of the recent rain near each end zone, similar to what it looked like after the weather delay in last Sunday's Cleveland Browns-Tampa Bay Buccaneers contest.
NFL
Sunday's game in Rio will be the NFL's third in Brazil(Image: Getty Images)
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The Maracana is a grass field that gets a ton of regular use for local football, a reality acknowledged by Pappas when he spoke to ESPN.
"Look, there's the realities of managing any playing surface, and then there's also the realities of managing a grass playing surface that's being used midseason," he shared.
CeeDee Lamb
Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb expressed that he wants to play in Rio regardless of the field conditions
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"So it's all about monitoring it. It's all about having a plan in place and then being able to react to anything that maybe comes our way."
Both Ravens coach Jesse Minter and Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer have stated publicly that they trust the NFL in handling all logistics of the contest.
Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb said he wants to play in Brazil, regardless of the playing-surface concerns. "Let's play," he said last week. I don't have questions. I'm gonna be out there, so it is what it is."
Batlimore enters the game 1-1 following a Week 2 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Dallas also enters 1-1, having thumped the Washington Commanders at home last weekend.