The first National Football League (NFL) home game of the season invites a dramatic entrance for players, but things went wrong ahead of the Tennessee Titans taking on the Indianapolis Colts at the weekend.

Temperatures inside the 69,000-capacity Titans stadium were already scorching at close to 34 degrees Celsius — a record for an NFL game in Nashville in the US.

But the mercury spiked even further when pyrotechnic equipment used to welcome the Titans onto the field malfunctioned and burst into flames, singeing the playing surface and causing thick smoke to billow into the air.

The fire was contained with only minor damage to the playing surface. ( AP: Wade Payne )

The players, who had just run onto the field ahead of the national anthem, returned to the locker room, but supporters were allowed to remain in their seats and watch while crews dealt with the blaze.

The Titans said nobody was hurt in the incident, which happened about five minutes prior to kick-off ahead of the AFC South team's opening home game, and that only minor damage was done to the artificial field.

The Titans suffered their first defeat of the season, going down 19-17 to the Colts — the 14th time the Colts had beaten the Titans in the past 16 matches.

It was not the only pre-game show that went wrong this weekend.

In Australia, the NRL had its own pre-game issues on Saturday night when Canberra Raiders centre Joey Leilua was struck in the eye with a piece of shell from the pre-match fireworks in Melbourne.

Leilua went on to help the Raiders to a memorable victory over the minor premiers the Melbourne Storm.