49ers voice complaints about turf at MetLife Stadium, play there again next Sunday
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Several 49ers suffered significant leg injuries Sunday in their win over the Jets, including knee injuries for Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas. The Niners fear both injuries are ACL tears, which would sideline the defensive linemen for the season.
Their defensive line-mate Arik Armstead blamed the artificial surface at MetLife Stadium for their injuries, tweeting immediately after the game to demand the NFL fix the stadium’s “trash” turf.
Bosa appeared to get his left cleat caught in the turf on his injury, as he was twisting away from a block by Jets tight end Chris Herndon.
“Guys seemed to be getting stuck in the ground more than regularly,” Armstead said. “A bunch of our players went down. It wasn’t real fun to be a part of and see happen to your teammates.”
This was just the second game on the new artificial turf installed at MetLife Stadium this offseason. The Giants and Steelers played last Monday night, and Steelers lineman Zach Banner tore his ACL during that game.
Left tackle Trent Williams said new turf presents a risk of cleats getting caught until it is broken in.
“You never want to blame the injuries on that but it is hard being a player in the trenches, put your foot in the ground, natural grass gives a bit, and on turf it gets stuck,” Williams said. “I don’t want to say it’s dangerous but it’s close to it.”
The Niners will play again at the stadium next Sunday, when they face the Giants after a week of practice in West Virginia.
Armstead said in his postgame press conference that he is anxious about returning to play at MetLife again next week.
“We see guys we love go down and get hurt, and we gotta come back here and play again on the same surface,” he said. “It’s anxiety-provoking to see that happen and know you have to do it again.”
San Francisco running back Raheem Mostert also suffered a knee injury Sunday — an apparent slight MCL tear, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner said he noticed the turf during pregame warmups, calling it “spongy”, but adding that the 49ers can’t be concerned about it looking forward to next week.
Backup quarterback Nick Mullens played the second half for the Niners as Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a high ankle sprain. Mullens said he didn’t notice anything strange about the turf.
“Regular turf, I guess you could say,” backup quarterback Nick Mullens said. “I didn’t notice it was any different.”
Then again, quarterbacks typically put a lot less strain on their legs than most other players during the course of a game.
@nfl fix this trash met life turf . 2020 is so wack
— Arik Armstead (@arikarmstead) September 20, 2020