The NFL would like you to believe there’s a real debate among players regarding the question of whether they prefer grass or turf.
There is not.
It’s a contrived notion aimed at justifying the cheaper approach to outfitting a field. The owners who have turf don’t want to pay for grass, and the Commissioner who is paid by all of them willingly runs interference.
Meanwhile, specific players continue to make the case for grass, while not a single current player has sung the praises of the fake stuff.
“Turf is tough on the body and being at that place,” Dolphins safety Jevon Holland told #PFTPM, specifically regarding the surface at MetLife Stadium. “I’ve had two of my friends now get injured from that. I just think it needs to be done with, honestly. I think it, you know, they need to really look into it and invest in a better playing surface for their team and teams around the league.”
Indeed they do. Most recently, Dolphins edge rusher Jaelen Phillips had his Achilles tendon rip while pushing out of his two-point stance at the start of a play last Friday.
“Turf is — it’s a hard surface,” Holland added. “There’s no give. Like grass, there’s give and it works with — when you cut, you can feel your cleats sink into the ground. Turf is, it’s like playing on — not playing on asphalt, but it in some terms it is. It’s tough on your joints and your knees and your ankles, and when you hit the ground, there’s no shock absorption to the ground. There’s none of that. But on grass there is. When you fall on the ground, you can roll and you feel like the earth isn’t so hard. That’s the biggest thing for me, honestly. I think that turf is just really tough on the joints and it has a long-lasting effect after practice, after games like, those things start to add up. Playing on grass for me always feels better.”
That’s the common refrain from players. Even if they emerge from a given game on turf without an injury, they feel the overall impact on their bodies of playing on a surface with no give.
Anyone who ever played even two-hand touch on the old green-cement artificial surface knows how it feels to get out of bed the next day. Even with fake stuff that looks less like patio carpet and more like grass, the lack of give means that bodies get banged up a lot worse.
But the league will continue to gloss over that fact, simply because the owners who have turf don’t want to make the investment in a better and safer playing surface.
