After the 49ers saw a number of players injured in a game at MetLife Stadium in 2020, there were complaints about the quality of the turf field.
The 49ers saw several players get hurt in this Sunday’s road win over the Panthers and that led to more discussion about turf fields after the game. Tight end George Kittle said that the turf at Bank of America Stadium is “OK,” but said he doesn’t understand why the league does not do more to ensure consistent playing surfaces from stadium to stadium.
“The thing that just confuses me is if you’re not going to mandate grass, then why aren’t turf fields the exact same turf so guys get used to playing on the same turf everywhere? But every field has a different turf,” Kittle said, via Tristi Rodriguez of NBCSportsBayArea.com. “And so you’re playing on a different surface. NBA guys don’t play on different wood, what are we doing? Hockey guys don’t play on different ices all the time. It’s ice. So I just wish we played on a surface that was similar every single week in, week out so your body won’t just be dealing with different, crappy turf.”
The 49ers will be back on turf in Atlanta next weekend and they’ll be hoping that playing on that surface doesn’t result in the same number of injuries.