Almost every year, players will point to some non-contact injuries as the product of playing on turf surfaces.
Jerry Jones doesn’t seem to think that will cause any massive changes.
There already have been a couple instances this season in which players said the turf was the potential cause of injury. MetLife Stadium’s surface came under fire when Sterling Shepard tore his ACL in Week 3, but Giants safety Julian Love attributed it to bad luck.
This weekend, it was Ford Field and Highmark Stadium, with Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell calling for change after Rashan Gary was injured in their loss to the Lions.
AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play, is among the venues that have a turf surface. Asked in his weekly appearance on “Shan and RJ” if he could see a league-wide change to grass on the horizon, Jones said “not at all.”
“And it’s not because we have the surface that we have,” Jones said. “Our stats, our league stats don’t see issues with the types of surface that we have as opposed to natural grass. We don’t see issues, facts bear that out.”
Half the teams in the league currently play on turf, but the NFLPA has insisted that there is no agronomic barrier to putting natural grass in all stadiums – including domes and venues in cold-weather climates.
So long as players keep sustaining non-contact injuries on turf, there will be outcry to make changes. Jones doesn’t seem to convinced that will come to pass.
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