The Packers can rest, practice and study film all they want in the next two weeks to get themselves in peak condition for their big NFC playoff game at Lambeau Field. But if the actual field on which they're expected to perform their punts, kicks, cuts and runs is a mess, then their other efforts might not matter much.

The field is always a concern for an outdoor team like Green Bay. Despite throwing resources and expertise in the caring for its lawn — Green Bay is usually known for its friendly playing surface — the reality has always been that the unforgiving climate simply leaves Lambeau's field in December and January looking a little like a patchwork of old and new sods, dead and dormant grass, clumps of uprooted grass, bare dirt midfield and muddy sidelines.

"Every year I've been here, I've thought, geez the field looks great in August and it looks like hell at the end of the year," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "It does seem this year like it is better."

At the end of the 2006 season, the Packers installed a new playing surface, the DD GrassMaster, which is a natural grass surface that is reinforced with synthetic fibers and rooted partially in sand. The installation, over a new drainage and heating system, took several months to complete.

Its design is paying dividends so far. As the Packers walked off the field after the victory against Detroit on Sunday, the field looked from the top of the stands to be in solid shape and from the players' perspective was respectably intact. Sure it looked a little brown, but it felt good under the feet of the Packers even though Green Bay has had snow and steady below-freezing temperatures.

"It felt like it was real fast and my footing was real good; I could cut on it," rookie running back Brandon Jackson said.

Allen Johnson has been the field manager for the Packers for the last 11 years and laughs when he is asked how the turf is holding up.

That's because the whole point of DD GrassMaster is that it has a nice, stable playing surface of synthetic material now, when the real grass went dormant months ago.

One of the beautiful things of Johnson's job now is that he's not trying to grow grass in the dead of the winter. He just needs to maintain the field and thaw it enough for footing.

He might be too biased to say this is the best December field he's had in Lambeau in his tenure — heaven knows he has done the unnatural in the past to make grass grow when the rest of the state is blanketed in ice and snow — but he is extremely pleased so far with DD GrassMaster.

"The natural grass doesn't have to be there at all in order for it to play well and for it to be safe with good footing," Johnson said.

This is the first year he hasn't had to lay down a new layer of sod later in the season. He believes the surface is in good shape for the Packers.

"This point in the season, even though I was always happy with the way the resodding would turn out, I'd worry about the sides," Johnson said. "I remember that playoff game against Seattle, the one with Al Harris getting the touchdown. That game stands out to me because the middle was fine but the sides were starting to really become loose. A player would make a cut and the sod would shift. You'd had a foot area that was really unstable and I was always nervous that it would affect the game or possibly get someone injured."

He's not concerned about that now. A quick survey from several Packers from many positions on Sunday revealed high praise for the turf.

"It's great. They really did a great job," kicker Mason Crosby said. "It's a little torn up, obviously, chewed up in the middle part, but that's expected and for the most part it's fine. The footing seemed to be really good. You didn't see a lot of guys slipping."

Running back Ryan Grant said the turf was as good as could be expected and that wearing normal cleats was sufficient for keeping his footing.

"When you're in that mush, you've got to wear these (studs)," Grant said. "The field is good but whenever it's cold like this it starts out hard and then it gets soft (during the game)."

Coaches like Philbin don't advised the players on whether to wear their long, medium or short studs. But they do ask them to get on the field before the game to test the turf.

The players find the Lambeau turf to be much better than that at Chicago's Soldier Field, where they played in Week 16.

"The field in Chicago was super super soft like it had been raining nonstop," receiver James Jones said. "Had to wear certain metal cleats. It was terrible. Our field, even with the snow and all that, it's still kind of hard.