NFL can’t ignore grass vs. turf debate
Maybe the messaging this week from Aaron Rodgers – “It’s time to go all grass throughout the league” – struck you like a blast from the past. Haven’t we heard this before?
The Green Bay Packers quarterback joined the chorus weighing in on the grass vs. turf debate that has been reignited with new fuel coming from a players movement. Good for the cause.
Hey, I’m with you on this, A-Rod. Grass stains beat turf burns every time.
And Rodgers suspects that fewer non-contact injuries occur on grass, which underscores the key safety component to this equation.
Then again, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow – who suffered a torn ACL on a grass field in 2020 – declared that his preference is to play on turf. Talk about old school vs. new school.
Of course, this debate has existed in various forms since AstroTurf was installed inside the Astrodome in 1966. The turf they play on now is softer, more “grass-like” than carpet. But it’s still fake.
And it still rankles some, if not many or most, who play on it, which is why the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has called for an immediate ban of the type of artificial turf that it deems is now the worst – “slit film,” which is used in six NFL stadiums.
“The injuries on slit film are completely avoidable – both the NFL and NFLPA experts agree on the data – and yet the NFL will not protect players from a subpar surface,” JC Tretter, the NFLPA’s president, wrote in a scathing letter published last weekend on the union’s website.
Safety should represent some serious leverage. Given all of the focus, rules changes, advances in equipment and other efforts in the name of safety in the NFL in recent years (including many related to head injuries), the NFL can’t merely dismiss the concerns of the players as not having merit. That would be a
bad look for a league that talks the talk on safety and was stung to its core in addressing the concussion crisis, and in its long view, has had to adopt safety as a pillar principle like never before.
We’ll see whether the needle moves with the players drawing a new line in the turf.
Rodgers has his doubts about NFL owners agreeing with his all-grass stance. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones indicated as much recently when maintaining during his radio show on 105.3 The Fan that the facts don’t bear out a need to stop playing on artificial turf.
“Honestly, I don’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to the league making that decision without some sort of big vote and gripes from certain owners who don’t want to spend the money,” Rodgers told reporters on Tuesday.
Tretter, a retired NFL center, has taken aim before against the NFL on the turf issue. In his recent letter, he contended that data supports the demanded ban.
Ah, the data. The NFL has another view – which is typical when the league and players union consider issues. In this case, the NFL is touting a narrowing of the rate of non-contact injuries on turf compared to grass surfaces to the point that there was “no statistical difference” during the 2021 season.
Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and safety, didn’t dispute the NFLPA’s contention that a higher rate of lower extremity injuries has occurred on slit film surfaces. But Miller told USA TODAY Sports that while there are “2 to 3 more, per stadium, per year” of such injuries on slit film surfaces that are less serious (such as ankle sprains), data has also shown fewer incidences of torn ACLs.
“It’s fair to say that synthetic surfaces have gotten better over the years,” said Miller.
Still, the data is ever evolving and subject to different interpretations, even as the NFL and NFLPA operate with a Joint Field Surface Safety and Performance Committee, which consists of about 20 members including engineering experts, field managers and turf experts. Miller said that at its most recent meeting, in early November, the committee didn’t recommend any immediate changes to the field surfaces but agreed that more research is needed.
Richard Sherman, the star cornerback-turned-analyst for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football,” contends there’s already fresh research that supports a ban. Sherman, who in his first year of retirement as a player remains on the NFLPA executive board, said on “TNF Nightcap” that after nine weeks there were “nine more serious injuries” and 15-18 more injuries on slit film surfaces.
“As a player, there’s no reason for that kind of risk,” Sherman said on Amazon.
Fresh injuries add to the argument. Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell tweeted extreme frustration after edge rusher Rashan Gary suffered a seasonending torn ACL during a Week 9 game at Detroit, with Ford Field among slitfilm surfaces (Cincinnati, Minnesota, New Orleans, Indianapolis and New York also use slit film surfaces). Earlier this season, Odell Beckham Jr., who tore an ACL during a non-contact sequence on the turf at SoFi Stadium in Super Bowl 56, railed against the use of turf fields after Giants receiver Sterling Shepard suffered a non-contact, torn ACL at Met Life Stadium.
“I think you would see less of these non-contact injuries that we see on some of the surfaces,” Rodgers said, “and I think that it’s a good step in the right direction towards player safety to make the requirement for every field to be grass.”
Burrow, meanwhile, offers a different type of solution that contradicts Rodgers and others in the all-grass camp, yet underscores the issue of inconsistent standards.
“Field quality is the first thing you notice when you walk out there,” Burrow told reporters this week. “Changes the cleats you wear. Changes how you cut, how you run routes, all of the above. So, I think having a universal turf would be a great thing for us as players. I don’t know the stats on it, injuries or anything, based off of the playing surface.
“I personally like playing on turf, but I do wish that each stadium had the same turf.”
Perhaps that’s a logical compromise – but only when real grass isn’t in the mix.