WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Aaron Rodgers briefly looked at a removable piece of the north end zone during early pregame warmups. One Green Bay Packers player asked an observer, "Are we going to play?" as for the better part of four hours the team’s front office, team doctor and training staff expressed concern with two patches of end zone Thursday night at IG Field.

Rodgers and the Packers came back out onto the field in full pads to get in their normal routine less than hour before kickoff, but league and team staff remained in the end zones, reviewing the amended areas as the pregame clock ticked down.

A Packers official had their team photographer take photos of the troubled areas and then the team streamed back to the locker room with 30 minutes to go on the clock — followed quickly by team and league officials, who declined to comment.

The ultimate decision was to modify the game with no kickoffs and the teams beginning with the ball at their own 25. The goal lines were then moved to the 10-yard line to make it an 80-yard field.

Clearly bothered by the surface in each end zone, the Packers and head coach Matt LaFleur elected to not play Rodgers and many other key players — 33 in all.

TWITTER REACTION:What people had to say about turf issue in Winnipeg

CAM NEWTON:Panthers QB leaves game early with foot injury

FOOTBALL FIX:NFL news delivered to your inbox

The Packers lost to the Raiders, 22-21, on late field goal by Oakland's Daniel Carlson.

Tim Boyle earned the start for the Packers at quarterback and had a 113.9 quarterback rating for the first half, going 16-for-25 with 191 yards and two scores. Wide receiver Trevor Davis helped his case for a roster spot with a strong all-around performance, taking a punt 17 yards (before slipping), turning a jet sweep upfield for 18 yards and then making a leaping, contested 23-yard touchdown catch and grabbing a 20-yard catch-and-run screen pass in the first half. In the opening 30 minutes, Davis caught four balls for 66 yards.

First-round pick Rashan Gary was carted off the field after being bent back awkwardly making a tackle in the first half and second-year wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown was assisted off the field and could put no weight on his left leg after also taking a hard hit.

The Raiders did not bring many of their starters, and star quarterback Derek Carr and wide receiver Antonio Brown had jerseys on but never donned helmets.

On Thursday morning, PackersNews.com confirmed through the NFL that the league had deemed the surface to be in compliance. But the biggest problem the Packers had, beginning with general manager Brian Gutekunst’s thorough walk-through about four hours before kickoff, were the patches laid over the holes where the Canadian Football League goal posts were located.

According to a statement provided by the NFL on Thursday night, “the field met the mandatory practices for the maintenance of surfaces for NFL games based on an inspection (Wednesday). Concerns arose (Thursday) surrounding the area where the Blue Bombers’ goal posts were previously located.”

At various points of his long pregame inspection, Gutekunst would reach down and pull up the patches. Over the hours, Gutekunst was joined by Packers’ trainers, team doctor Pat McKenzie, executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball and president/CEO Mark Murphy. Oakland general manager Mike Mayock and the Raiders training staff were also involved in the conversations.

The grounds crew eventually tried to glue the patches down, but ultimately it was determined the teams wouldn’t play into the end zone. There were also two removable cylinders in the end zone with turf on top of them that the Packers were not happy with.

This was not the first time the Packers, or the league, had dealt with playing-surface issues. In 2016, the Hall of Fame Game between the Packers and Indianapolis Colts was canceled due to an unplayable field. Last year, the league moved a regular-season game in Mexico City between the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs back to L.A. after the field was ruled unplayable.

Follow the Packers News' Jim Owczarski on Twitter @JimOwczarski.

If you love talking football, we have the perfect spot for you. Join our Facebook Group, The Ruling Off the Field, to engage in friendly debate and conversation with fellow football fans and our NFL insiders.