Now that NFL training camps are in full swing, the beginning of the preseason for every team is right around the corner. We already had the Hall of Fame game, which was a great way to welcome football back, and now the rest of the teams are preparing for their first game. One team that may have trouble playing its first preseason game is the New England Patriots, due to the quality of the playing surface.
The NFL Playing Surface Battle Continues
Gillette Stadium’s playing surface was changed to grass for the recent FIFA World Cup, and the team then went back to turf for the football season. However, that turf did not meet league standards, and now the team is scrambling to install a new turf before their preseason game on Thursday.
The NFL has been made aware that players do not like playing on turf; however, it has done nothing to change that, and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms made his thoughts clear on the situation.
It seems like the NFL is being cheap in not wanting to install grass surfaces for all 32 teams. Simms discussed this on “Pro Football Talk,” and the former quarterback did not mince words about the surface-level problems in the NFL.
Simms said, “It is such a bad look by the NFL and NFL owners that they are making their players play on a surface that they are openly talking that they don’t want to play on all the time, and they’re still consistently ramming it down the players’ throats.”
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This has been an ongoing discussion for years, and the NFL has not made the necessary changes to the field surface.
Simms continued, “I am rooting for the next field turf to also be non-compliant, and there is no game this week for the New England Patriots.”
“It’s one of the dumbest things in the sport; it’s one of the dumbest things in American Culture,” Simms added. “It’s a horrible look for the NFL.”
There has been constant chatter that more injuries occur on turf fields than on grass, but NFL team owners know it would cost a lot of money to install grass on every field and then pay to keep it up to standard. It does not seem fair to the players that they have to risk their health just so the billionaire owners can keep a few more dollars in their pockets.
This ESPN article states that grass has been proven to be “significantly safer” than turf, yet the league still refuses to make a league-wide change.
The battle is likely to continue for a while, and the players should continue to push for all-grass surfaces. While injuries are part of the game, there is no reason for players to put themselves at any further risk by playing on a dangerous surface.
