Field of nightmares: Inside the NFL, player divide over playing surfaces

[ladypanther]

https://theathletic.com/4074335/2023/01/11/nfl-turf-fields-injuries/?source=emp_shared_article

Lots of info and a timely article from our old friend.

The debate between natural playing surfaces versus turf caught fire again this season after a slew of high-profile non-contact injuries. Half the league plays its home games on a variety of turf fields, but players have been especially outspoken throughout the 2022 season in their desire for a wholesale move to natural surfaces.

“There are turfs I’ve played on where it actually gives in certain spots,” said former Bengals and Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, a 16-year NFL veteran who just completed his first year as an analyst for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football.”

“There’s no way to navigate it,” he continued. “Yeah, you’re gonna have ate-up parts of grass. But what happens there, most of the time, is you just fall. The problem with turf is that if you land a little wrong on turf, there’s no give. It’s immediate. And immediate stopping and starting is where people get hurt.”

There is only one standardized test required to assess the overall safety of NFL playing surfaces: firmness. This evaluation, called a Clegg test, is conducted by each team’s own field management lead and reported to the league in the days ahead of a scheduled game. Any other measures taken to ensure player safety, including Scott’s pregame walk-through, are up to the club.

“The current field inspections do not account for performance and safety,” NFLPA president J.C. Tretter said in a Nov. 12 statement, “so we should stop saying that these fields are safe to play on based on the fact they passed said inspection.”

A 2018 study for the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) found a 16 percent increase in lower-extremity injuries on turf versus grass using data collected from 2012 to 2018. The American Journal of Sports Medicine ascertained that “playing on artificial turf increases the risk of lower-body injury” and that “field surface has a causal effect on injury rates due to synthetic turf’s lack of ability to release an athlete’s shoe” in a 2019 study using data collected from 2012 to 2016.

Amid increased outcry about playing surfaces, the NFL in November released data showing a “statistically insignificant” difference between injuries on synthetic versus natural surfaces during the 2021 season. Jeff Miller, the league’s executive vice president of health and safety affairs and executive VP of communications, public affairs and policy, echoed that position last month.

“There has been, over the course of the last few years, a decrease in the difference between injury rates on synthetic surfaces and those on natural grass to the point now where we really talk more about answering the question, ‘Can we decrease injuries on both?’ as opposed to one or the other,” he told The Athletic. “That is a complicated conversation that includes discussions about type of surface, the characteristics of the surface, the sort of cleats players are wearing, the activities they’re involved in, probably some atmospheric and weather issues (and more).”

As a part of the collective bargaining agreement, the league and its players have a committee dedicated to discussions around playing surfaces. Both bodies also employ engineering and biomechanical consultants to help study the issue and disseminate available data, according to Miller.

..............An NFLPA-led movement using the hashtag #SaferFields called for the immediate replacement and ban of the slit-film turf surfaces currently in use by seven NFL teams: the New York Giants, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. Slit-film surfaces are often referred to as “grabby.

One league executive, who was granted anonymity to speak openly on the subject, said for decades injury incidence rates on synthetic surfaces were consistently around 13 percent higher than those on natural surfaces. The executive noted that in recent years — as the league received data from IQVIA — these rates decreased from a 12 percent difference in 2019 to a 7 percent difference in 2020 to a 1 percent difference in 2021.

An NFL executive told a group of league personnel at December’s league meetings that the 2022 data is also trending toward a 1 percent difference in injury rate between playing surfaces, according to a person with direct knowledge of that conversation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

There is no general agreement among teams on which artificial playing surface is best. Miller said the league is currently conducting “a substantial research effort” 

Panthers owner David Tepper changed Bank of America Stadium’s playing surface from grass to turf in 2021. Carolina players met with Tepper last spring to communicate their preference for a natural grass field, though they were not immediately optimistic about future changes.

In Week 16, as Charlotte temperatures dipped to historic lows, visiting Lions players criticized the “cement-like” turf and noted that it seemed below NFL standards, especially pregame. The NFLPA plans to file a grievance against the Panthers and the NFL over the condition of the turf, saying it failed a pre-game inspection, two officials with knowledge of the filing told The Athletic. There are no current league-mandated standards for equipment utilized by a team to attend to such field changes (such as a tarp or heaters); responses are up to the teams.

“We have to raise the standards, period,” Tretter recently told The Athletic. “The NFL can’t say that they care about health and safety and do things like allow a game to start when it failed the only test we have for field surfaces. 

Some league executives believe widening the scope of data and advancing the technology behind it could lead to new standardized safety measures similar to when the NFL banned 10 different models of helmets in 2018, citing player safety. This could in turn lead to an agreed-upon playing surface, as well as heavier investments in the engineering of that surface.

“The best thing that can happen for turf fields is what has happened with helmets,” Demoff said. “We paid a lot more attention to data, designs and encouraged people (toward) new designs that take advantage of the best of technology to make them as safe as possible.

“I think turf is the new helmet.”

[PanthersATL]

Despite what the thread title says, this thread is not about the TV show, INSIDE THE NFL (airing Tuesdays at 8p ET on the CW, check local listings)

 

[Mr. Scot]

I'd never want to deem an injury to a player "a good thing".

That said, there is some good that could at least potentially come out of what happened to Aaron Rodgers.

Why? Because the league pays more attention when bad things happen to star players.

Injury to Teddy Bridgewater? Eeehh, no big deal.

Injury to Tom Brady? HOLY SH-T! WHAT CAUSED THIS? WE MUST INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATELY!!!

[Purrnicious]

Even if they can get the injury risk evened out I would still prefer natural grass. It's called a football field, it should be an actual field of grass. Football is a game played outdoors in the elements, and dirt has always been a part of that.

And in our case that dirt came from every county across the two Carolinas, when the team said defend our dirt it wasn't just a metaphor. 

 

What do we say now, protect our petroleum?

[Mr. Scot]

My worry here is that the NFL might take a (deliberately) shortsiggted approach.

To be specific, their public read might be that it's only the field in Met Life Stadium which needs fixing. All the other turf fields are just fine.

[Khyber53]

21 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I'd never want to deem an injury to a player "a good thing".

That said, there is some good that could at least potentially come out of what happened to Aaron Rodgers.

Why? Because the league pays more attention when bad things happen to star players.

Injury to Teddy Bridgewater? Eeehh, no big deal.

Injury to Tom Brady? HOLY SH-T! WHAT CAUSED THIS? WE MUST INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATELY!!!

Sad, but very true. When big names get hurt, things change.

[csx]

So the data shows no significant difference?

Still rather have grass but that's interesting 

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

Sad, but very true. When big names get hurt, things change.

Captain Dickhead was more than happy to brag to opposing defenders about how the league implement a rule just for him.

[ladypanther]

47 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

Despite what the thread title says, this thread is not about the TV show, INSIDE THE NFL (airing Tuesdays at 8p ET on the CW, check local listings)

 

Just copied the title of the article from The Athletic.

[ladypanther]

36 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

My worry here is that the NFL might take a (deliberately) shortsiggted approach.

To be specific, their public read might be that it's only the field in Met Life Stadium which needs fixing. All the other turf fields are just fine.

In the article the mentioned 7 teams who have the same type of surface...which seems to be the worst (according to players):

 seven NFL teams: the New York Giants, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. Slit-film surfaces are often referred to as “grabby.

[Mr. Scot]

FYI: Jets are confirming that Rodgers has a torn achilles

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[@bonafidebanter]

Football, rugby and futbol should be played, when outside, on natural grass. 

[PanthersATL]

1 hour ago, @bonafidebanter said:

Football, rugby and futbol should be played, when outside, on natural grass. 

In all weather (barring catastrophically dangerous situations)

[ThPantherFan]

3 hours ago, ladypanther said:

Lots of info and a timely article from our old friend.

Excellent post, LP.  I hope they (all teams) do go back to natural grass turf.

Edited September 12, 2023 by ThPantherFan
understanding