NFL's Week 1 Spoiled By Turf Trouble

From NBC News

American football is the most viewed sport in the country and it is not close. Anticipation for the very first week of the NFL season is like no other. Fans of every team believe that this can be their year if everyone on their roster stays healthy.

That is a major "if".

Week 1 of the 2023-24 season started last Thursday night with a thrilling 21-20 victory for the Detroit Lions over the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs. A few players from both sides were held out from that game, including Pro-Bowler tight end Travis Kelce. Injuries during the game were non-existent.

Sunday was a different story.

Injuries have always existed. It is just a part of sports, especially in a high-contact game like football, but before Monday Night Football, there were 16 teams that reported major injuries from Week 1. That is half of the NFL.

Players had chest injuries, like Ravens' safety Marcus Williams and Steelers' tight end Pat Freiermuth. Others endured potential concussions like Raiders' wide receiver Jakobi Meyers and Packers' inside linebacker Quay Walker.

But the most prevalent injury type, were those located in the leg. Sunday saw 17 injuries involving the leg or foot, with the most devastating being Ravens' running back J.K. Dobbins suffering a season-ending tear in his achilles against the Houston Texans. The tackle made by MJ Stewart was very routine, so it seemed like the star running back just had bad luck with injuries.

With one game left on Monday night, people were worried about the number of injuries the day prior, but more because of their impact on fantasy football rosters. Fans and media remained excited for the Bills-Jets showdown in MetLife, debuting the future hall-of-fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a new shade of green. Within the first drive of the game, Rodgers goes down suffering a tear in his achilles. He seemed shaken up before he was sacked on that play.

Following this, players from all over the league went public about changing the standard of turf on the field. Jets' wide receiver Randall Cobb shared with USA Today, "Never been a fan of turf. Never will be a fan of turf." Athletes uniting to change the game is an amazing sign that the sport is moving in a good direction, but did it need to take a star succumbing to a potential career-ending tear for this to happen?

Injuries in 2023 have already been game changing, and even life altering, looking back at the Damar Hamlin incident from last season, but even that was not enough to spark major change in injury prevention. Aaron Rodgers is certainly one of the best to ever play, but certain athletes enduring pain should not be what leads to a change. The 30 players who showed up on NFL.com's notable injury list should be enough.

Change is better late than never I guess.

The real question is what's to be done?

The NFLPA has called for change, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has commented on the remarks made. "It's one of the things we've negotiated... to address this in a way that is done scientifically. We are getting the right people, we have engineers who look at that. We'll look at the mechanism of injury on Aaron's injury," Goodell said on ESPN's First Take.

Many of stadiums including MetLife, have tried switching over to a less synthetic turf. Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans has switched to Matrix Helix Turf, a more organic turf with better resiliency and more aesthetic look. The only game played on that turf was a college game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Cavaliers, so with their home opener in a few days, it will be interesting to see the impact of the new field in an NFL game.

Regardless of what it is, change needs to be made all around, but especially in preventable injuries like those related to turf. Week 2 should provide no shortage of interesting stories regarding injury.