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What exactly is it about turf that causes injuries though? Has there been any actual research.
Does it even matter that much? The players playing on it say they would much prefer playing on grass. Why would fans need to see research to back that up? Aren't we here to watch the players?
Because many players have dumb takes and data should be driving changes lol
Go to any social media post about players getting ejected or fined for spearing or something and you’ll see countless guys, occasionally former players, grumbling about how it’s not FOOBAW
This is not about a "take" though? This is about the actual people playing on this surface saying they feel better playing on grass than turf. How is that a "take"? Do you go to the doctor and tell them your tummy hurts and expect the doctor to go, "Well that's just your take"?
And again, I don't understand what fans gain by rushing to the defense of the billionaire owners. What do you lose by being on the side of the players? If the players say they would rather play on grass, why are we pulling out our financial analyst hats and rushing to save the billionaire owners a couple million dollars by going, "Well the data shows this is a bad take". It makes no sense.
It’s not financial analysis, it’s injury analysis. Lots of players are superstitious, hell a bunch of people in this thread didn’t realize the turf itself was new. If the data backs the players’ opinions, which it seems to, then install grass. If it doesn’t, ignore their opinions because who gives a h*ck if they feel more comfortable on something proven to actually be worse for injury?
Fans should, no? Do we watch for the players or the owners? We shouldn't care that the people doing the actual entertaining are not more comfortable? What is the drawback? This literally makes no sense to me. As a fan, what does it matter whether the games are on turf or grass? Why such vehement defense of turf? Even if you are 100% right and every piece of research says there is no difference, what does it hurt you to root for having grass? Are you getting some bonuses or stocks in turf or something?
Of course it matters.
If it's just the players preference, the owners have a reasonable argument to say turf is cheaper, get over it.
If turf actually causes a statistically significant increase in injury, the same owners should be forced to replace it with natural grass or some other safer alternative.
Got it. Screw what the players want as long as the poor billionaires save some money. I get this argument coming from the owners' cronies. Never going not be insane to me that regular ass fans do this. But it is what it is. Some people just love to worship owners.
Pretty much screw what the players want, yeah. Billionaires got that way by pleasing themselves sadly, not other people. I've never seen a fan worshipping an owner but I guess they must exist.
There's a good YouTube video out there that details some of this stuff
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LBWSoNlgv00&pp=ygUTR3JlZW4gbW9uc3RlciB0dXJmIA%3D%3D
The weird part is, I could have sworn that I heard that Metlife stadium just got a new playing surface this year
The general consensus is that turf has less give compared to grass. Thus when they are making cuts and changing direction quickly there is a lot more stress on joints and ligaments causing tears and injuries to happen more frequently. This is why it seems like you have a higher amount of knee and ankle injuries.
I’m sure part of it is the attention turf injuries get compared to grass, but it shouldn’t be ignored that players just prefer grass to turf. I’ve used both and much prefer grass myself. I’m nowhere near the level of athletes these guys are so I can only imagine the amount of forces they are applying to their body when playing.
The pellets that hold the turf in can cause your cleats to stick to them. This causes extra torque on your routes and cuts, causing increased leg injuries. The Kelce brothers have talked about why turf sucks a couple times on their podcast.
Times like this it’s nice to have an owner who’s paid for a new grass field multiple times in the last year
Amazingly, this is brand new turf this year to replace the ligament graveyard we’ve had for years…
Brett Kollman mentioned he’s heard it’s not necessarily the TYPE of turf used, but that teams are potentially cheaping-out on the INSTALLATION, which is very interesting. Hopefully he releases a full video on it soon, as I could totally see that being the issue, which is even more embarrassing for Metlife
Those medium Pepsis don’t grow on trees.
I feel like this would track since the lions have the same type of turf at Ford Field but it has been relatively major injury free (knock on wood)
If I know one thing about construction and NFL owners is that they will go with the cheapest price. Lowest bid/price equals cheap installation.
Fed Ex Field is a living testament to it, haha.
I am not discounting the issue with the turf, but it is rich that the Dolphins would complain about a stadium and its turf when they built a stadium that purposefully hurts the opposing team.
I personally want there to be two selections and it is consistent across the league. If you choose turf it is this 1 company and 1 config, if grass 1 blend of seed. That way it can create more of a consistent test criteria of variables.
Then in say 5 years if turf is main culprit. Everyone gets grass.
That will never work.
I understand what you’re trying to say, but grass isn’t grass. What grows in Arizona in Dec won’t grow in the north east.
Grass grows differently in Pittsburgh than it does in Arizona or Miami. 1 blend of seed would be nearly impossible.
Please educate me if need be, but how does the turf affect the injury here? It was just normal movement at the snap, that could happen anywhere.
I was wondering this as well. I want the league to move to grass simply because the players want it, but this seems like a total freak accident. Either way it sucks, and I hope he comes back strong and quickly. He’s been through a lot over coming injuries.
Grass in MetLife just isn't feasible - moving to grass would be significantly worse than the current (updated) turf.
Patriots play there Sunday 😐
Gillette uses the company fieldturf as well lol
Damn.. then why does MetLife get all the hate?
Because people are dumb and parrot everything they hear
nfl needs to mandate grass
it’s so bad I’m hoping the Eagles have the 1 seed locked up and don’t need to risk injury to a starter (not that I want a backup to get hurt) on that dumpster fire of a field. The NFL can harp about player safety all they want, but I don’t buy it as long as that field is around.
Nobody should be playing on fully artificial turf. Hybrid at a minimum if they need the longevity. You share $12bn/yr between 32 teams, with a total of $20bn in revenue. You can afford to pay for a stadiums with a safe playing surface.
blame Mara. can’t even blame Woody for this one…
Nothing will change unless the players take a stand and refuse to play on turf. They’ll just complain every time someone tears an ACL or pops an Achilles and then move on to the next news topic in a few days.
Holland is unaware that the turf is different than the turf that was there. They replaced the turf prior to the season with field turf core
The same turf is used in Atlanta and New England as well as Notre Dame and Texas.
I'm not saying the turf is fine but it's incredibly irresponsible of the media to not mention these facts as if it's left over turf from the Vet in Philly or something.
Or when Nick Chubb’s leg died. That was grass. Crickets. It’s just confirmation bias
There's a huge difference between a non-contact catastrophic leg injury vs some guy rolling up on someone's leg and fucking it up.
Look at the flair, you can’t expect to have a logical conversation…
Players come together and refuse to play is the only way I see the nfl taking this seriously. That’s going to be incredibly hard tho since players indeed want their game checks lol
Meanwhile Kenyans can run barefoot all through Africa at great distances and speeds
Still remember when that field effectively ended our 2020 season in Week 2, Mostert was one of the many many injuries that game
Fuuuuuuck Metlife
that field was torn out this past offseason
If teams started resting starters there, the league would respond.
Who gives a shit
-ownership
People are jumping on the narrative, but Metlife literally changed their turf in the offseason. It's the same one used in Detroit and Atlanta. Nobody complains about those.
The issue is that athletes go so hard nowadays and their bodies can't handle it. If you watched the broadcast, they literally mentioned that Phillips had actually retired due to injuries in college before deciding to come back. But people want to blame the turf? Metlife has not had nearly the amount of non-contact injuries it had in the past. It's just easy to blame the turf because people don't want to think about whether athletes are going too hard these days.
https://youtu.be/BB_o7gp8HIw?si=rV_cw5eLjfOMMOrE
See what the Kelce brothers have to say about artificial turf.