© Vincent Carchietta | 2020 Sep 20
With no preseason and an expedited training camp, the NFL has seen an elevated number of injuries throughout the league though two weeks. Couple that with a questionable playing surface and you have a disaster on your hands.
That’s what happened at MetLife Stadium during the Jets-49ers game on Sunday. Jimmy Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert, Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas were all knocked out of the game with potentially serious lower body injuries. Bosa and Thomas are expected to miss the remainder of the season with ACL tears.
Here’s the kicker: The 49ers are supposed to play at MetLife again next Sunday vs. the Giants. Before that happens the league’s “field operations department will take a closer look at the situation based on the concerns raised by the 49ers,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported, citing a league source.
The 49ers were very open about those concerns after Sunday’s game.
“As far as the feeling on the sidelines, that’s as many knee injuries and ankle stuff and people getting caught on a turf as I’ve ever been a part of,” Kyle Shanahan said after the 49ers’ 31-13 win. “From what I saw, the other team did too. I know our players talked about it the entire game, just how sticky the turf was and it was the first time people played on it, I think. It was something our guys were concerned about right away. And the results definitely made that a lot stronger, and unfortunately it’s a place we have to go back to next week.”
“Fix this trash met life turf,” Arik Armstead tweeted at the NFL directly after the game. “2020 is so wack.”
Sunday’s game was just the second NFL game at MetLife after the turf was resurfaced, and the first day game. It is unclear at this point if the league is exploring the option of moving next week’s game.
