Season Opener Field Conditions

[00Ravens]

Let's hope they get this fixed before our guys take the field against the Jets. An injury on this field in Week 1 could cripple us out of the gate.


Domenik Hixon's season is over; turf may be to blame
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on June 16, 2010 2:28 PM ET
The Giants better hope their first practice at the New Meadowlands Stadium isn't an omen.

Wide receiver Domenik Hixon will miss the 2010 season with a torn ACL suffered on Tuesday. The Giants initially thought Hixon escaped with a minor injury, but an MRI Wednesday afternoon revealed the full damage.

The Giants have to be sick because it appears the team's new FieldTurf is largely responsible. Coach Tom Coughlin, speaking before he knew the extent of Hixon's injury, spoke about breaking the turf in.

"We're aware of it, we're continuing to work with it, we're asking the turf people to take another look at the field and some of the thoughts we had about shoes and such," Coughlin said. "I think it's pretty much new, just because it's new."

Hixon was second in the league in punt return average last year and is the team's best kick returner. He's also the Giants' No. 4 receiver.

And now he's gone for the year, apparently because the playing surface wasn't ready.


http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/16/domenik-hixons-season-is-over-turf-may-be-to-blame/

[psuasskicker]

Concerning to say the least. We should know more plenty before then, though. They'll have two or four pre-season games on it, plus I'm sure plenty of practices.

- C -

[Jeremiah W]

I do not think the knee is built for pro football on fieldturf. On grass if you try to cut hard enough to blow out your ACL, you will fall down and there will be a big clump of grass in your cleat and you may sprain an ankle or something. On that sticky turf you foot will stick and the pressure is leveraged up to your knee. Overall there may not be more injuries on turf, but there sure seems to be a lot more non or little contact ACL tears.

[crpravens]

I do not think the knee is built for pro football on fieldturf. On grass if you try to cut hard enough to blow out your ACL, you will fall down and there will be a big clump of grass in your cleat and you may sprain an ankle or something. On that sticky turf you foot will stick and the pressure is leveraged up to your knee. Overall there may not be more injuries on turf, but there sure seems to be a lot more non or little contact ACL tears.

Lets hope the owners agree with this and we can get grass fields at all the outdoor stadiums. I hate watching football on turf.

[Losac]

This argument again? They already said they had a terrible time trying to get the natural grass growing at M&T because of the lack of sunlight the field gets in the winter months. They're not going back to it. And look at that slop they play on at Heinz Field - they can have that in Yinzer town.

[effo5231]

Players on natural grass fields are more likely to sustain:

* Neural injuries
* Ligament injuries
* Debris injuries

Earlier research by Meyers and Barnhill examined the rate and severity of injuries on FieldTurf brand products versus natural grass [2004]. The 5-year prospective study tracking high school football injuries found that there were “higher incidences of 1- to 2-day time loss injuries, 22+ days time loss injuries, head and neural trauma, and ligament injuries were reported on natural grass.”


/thread

[Jeremiah W]

This argument again? They already said they had a terrible time trying to get the natural grass growing at M&T because of the lack of sunlight the field gets in the winter months. They're not going back to it. And look at that slop they play on at Heinz Field - they can have that in Yinzer town.

They are bringing in a grass surface for the soccer match.

[Ravenswarrior19]

/thread

Problem is, I've seen similar studies that show no distinction between injuries on next-gen turf vs. grass. It comes down to a question of what to believe.

Let's not forget, M&T is sporting a brand new field turf surface this year, which the Ravens have spent a nice chunk of change on. It is likely we will see and "adjustment period" to our new turf as well. Let's hope we can learn from NY/NJ's mistakes.

[crpravens]

This argument again? They already said they had a terrible time trying to get the natural grass growing at M&T because of the lack of sunlight the field gets in the winter months. They're not going back to it. And look at that slop they play on at Heinz Field - they can have that in Yinzer town.

Football is suppose to be muddy and dirty.

[effo5231]

Football is suppose to be muddy and dirty.

Yea... there's a difference between muddy and "played in actual mud" though.

Personally I want guys like Ray Rice to have perfect traction in all weather, our turf provides that.

[HoustonRaven]

Overall there may not be more injuries on turf, but there sure seems to be a lot more non or little contact ACL tears.

I am pretty sure Wes Welker would disagree with you.

[Rayvens52]

I do not think the knee is built for pro football on fieldturf. On grass if you try to cut hard enough to blow out your ACL, you will fall down and there will be a big clump of grass in your cleat and you may sprain an ankle or something. On that sticky turf you foot will stick and the pressure is leveraged up to your knee. Overall there may not be more injuries on turf, but there sure seems to be a lot more non or little contact ACL tears.

I completely disagree with you, I am one who tore both my knees playing on real grass surfaces and know of plenty of people who have also tore knee ligaments on real grass.

The stuff the guys play on now is the best money can buy, have you ever walked on the field at M&T it is far from the turf used 15-20 years ago and now they are getting an even better turf!

I think people think there are more knee tears on the new stuff as the media is always looking for a story and is using new turf as a story, but as someone who has played on both surfaces and the turf I played on is nothing like what the NFL has I would prefer to play on the new turf over legit grass any day.

[Rayvens52]

Here are some reports I have found that prove that the new turf has no greater risk and may even be less of a risk than natural grass.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I think it is crazy to think for one second if grass was that much better or it was that much safer we would not use it, there in nearly no difference in cost of the to fields, so I will say the Ravens FO and most of the NFL have done their research as well and would not put all of their money on line with injuring there start athletes if there was a major difference.

A second criticism of the Astroturf-type surfaces is the friction between the cleat and the playing surface. When an athlete plants his/her foot on Astroturf, the shoe often “sticks” to the turf. This results in stress to the ankle and knee joints. This rotational torque at the shoe surface is slightly greater when using cleats on FieldTurf and AstroPlay compared to grass [5]. However, the differences are relatively small and may not translate into injury risk. When athletes perform various start- ing, stopping and cutting maneuvers on turf, different pressures are experienced on the foot compared to grass [6]. How- ever, total pressure placed on the foot is similar on the two surfaces. Most importantly, knee joint stress during cutting movements are slightly less when performed on 3rd generation turf than on grass [7]. This suggests that despite small dif- ferences in torque and foot pressure, stress placed on the knee may be slightly reduced when playing on artificial turf com- pared to grass.

http://www2.team-logic.com/userfiles/file/154/5%20VATech%20Safety%20of%20Turf%20Fields_22DEC08.pdf

second source

http://www.sportssafety.org/presentations/field-turf-vs-natural-grass/

[Jeremiah W]

Alright I am not a scientist and maybe the new turf is about as safe as grass. Football is dangerous you can get hurt badly no matter what the surface is more from the initial hit than the landing.

I still want to see grass stains and clods in face masks, mud and slop every once in a while. If it is good enough for soccer it should be good enough for football.

There really does seem to be more non contact ACL injuries but overall I guess it is about the same, other than it plays faster than grass with sharper cuts.

The good thing is that ACL surgury and recovery has come a very long way since when I played, which was not all that long ago.

[Jeremiah W]

Interesting article about it.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/24327/is-new-meadowlands-turf-an-injury-issue


"You can speculate on whatever you want," Coughlin said. "Fact of the matter is it was an injury that occurred when he was not hit. He was running up the field and we are just going to leave it at that."

but there is also support for the turf.


"It's new turf," Jets inside linebacker Bart Scott said. "It takes a while for this stuff to harden up and mat down. There's going to be loose rubber until you run over it a couple times. ... But you just have to make the adjustment. Early on you may have to go with shorter spikes, and then as it hardens up you can go with longer spikes.

"But I think it's still top-notch. It's soft. It's level. There's no divots. There's no seams. You just have to break it in."

Vikings are having a legal battle with fieldturf right now.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2010/06/14/daily42.html



“Medically, FieldTurf has proven to increase risk and severity of injury in NFL players,” the Vikings said, according to documents filed by the commission in response to FieldTurf’s lawsuit. The team cites an NFL study that found the rate of anterior cruciate ligament injuries is 88 percent higher in games played on FieldTurf than in games played on grass

Read more: Judge won't block new turf at Metrodome — but fight by field-maker continues - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal