Following a Week 2 beating of the New York Jets, the San Francisco 49ers expressed concern over the fieldturf at MetLife Stadium after several of their players went down with injury.
“That’s as many knee injuries and ankle stuff and people getting caught on the turf as I’ve even been a part of,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the game. “I know our players talked about it the entire game, just how sticky the turf was. Unfortunately it’s a place we got to go back to next week.”
Leading up to a Week 3 game against the New York Giants, also at MetLife Stadium, the turf underwent several inspections and passed each. Ultimately, the NFL deemed the field safe.
While injuries in the stadium were down in Week 3, there were a few that piled onto the tally for both New York and San Francisco.
Now, NFLPA president JC Tretter is calling for all stadiums to convert to natural grass as opposed to fieldturf, including MetLife Stadium.
Below is a section of Tretter’s demands from the NFLPA website.
Based on NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018, not only was the contact injury rate for lower extremities higher during practices and games held on artificial turf, NFL players consistently experienced a much higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries on turf compared to natural surfaces. Specifically, players have a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries when playing on artificial turf. Of those non-contact injuries, players have a 32% higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a staggering 69% higher rate of non-contact foot/ankle injuries on turf compared to grass.
During a media conference on Wednesday, Tretter doubled-down on his request, once again citing the statistics.
“The data stands out. Those numbers are staggering, the difference in injury rate between turf and natural grass. It’s possible to get grass in every location, and it’s about pushing for that. We all should be working toward the safest style of play. We know the dangers of playing on turf. That’s not good for anybody. It’s not good for players. It’s not good for the GMs and the head coaches. It’s not good for the owners. It’s not good for the fans. Increased injuries isn’t good for anybody,” he said, via ESPN.
“Until we can find a way to get synthetic turf to respond and react like natural grass, it’s too much of a danger to continue to play on and expect different results.”
MetLife Stadium is one of 13 NFL stadiums that use fieldturf.
