EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The unforgiving artificial turf claimed more victims Sunday as the Texans suffered a disproportionate amount of injuries during a lopsided defeat to the New York Jets.
MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets and New York Giants, has become an infamous sporting facility. Since the playing surface was installed four years ago, multiple serious injuries have occurred. That includes Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending torn Achilles, San Francisco 49ers defensive linemen Nick Bosa and current Jets defensive tackle Solomon Thomas both tearing their anterior cruciate ligaments in the same game along with running back Raheem Mostert and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo getting hurt, Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard tearing his Achilles and Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips tearing his Achilles.
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The Texans can probably take some small measure of comfort that their batch of injuries weren’t much more serious.
Among the Texans’ injuries reported Sunday: quarterback C.J. Stroud suffering a concussion when the back of his head hit the turf on Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams’ unflagged late hit along with wide receiver Nico Collins’ strained calf and linebacker Blake Cashman and Tavierre Thomas’ hamstring injuries and rookie defensive end Will Anderson Jr. injuring his ankle.
That doesn’t mean the turf is any less dangerous, though.
“Yeah, man, that turf is trash,” Texans tight end Brevin Jordan said. “I think everybody in the NFL can somewhat agree on that. That MetLife Stadium is not a fun thing to play on., but got to keep going, though. it’s one of those things got to find a way to win.”
The most frequent complaints about the turf is the hard playing surface. FieldTurf Core was installed this year, but the injuries haven’t slowed down. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan once said the turf is too sticky.
“It’s hard, it’s slick,” Jordan said. “I mean, the traction doesn’t feel right. I feel like everybody in the NFL can really agree on that. It shows. A lot of guys get hurt on this field every Sunday. There’s no excuse behind it. We got to play better and we got to get ready to beat Nashville.”
#Texans tight end Brevin Jordan calls Met Life Stadium 'trash, hard and slick' @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/NYgdWkkIvP
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 10, 2023
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former 49ers defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, declined to blame the field for the injuries sustained by multiple players.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” he said. “Every field, guys get injured on across the league. It’s just the nature of what we do. Injuries happen, I can’t blame it on a field, or what it may be. If I could figure out injuries, they’d probably pay me a lot of money, but I don’t know why they happen.”
The injuries were no less impactful. The shorthanded Texans lost 30-6 and fell to 7-6 for season.
“It’s tough, we lost a lot of guys today,” Ryans said. “It’s tough losing Blake, Blake has been a guy we can count on on defense and he’s stepped in, he’s earned the right to play more snaps for us and with him going out, that definitely hurts us on defense.”
Texans safety and team captain Jimmie Ward weighed in on the turf surface, which has drawn complaints across the league.
“I know a lot of guys are not too big on turf,” Ward said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to not have any serious injuries, but I’m a team player. So, if the majority of the guys don’t like it, then I don’t like it either. I just want to stay injury-free and I hope the guys that are down on my team and their team today, I hope it’s not that serious and they’re going to come back soon.”
When Collins went out of the game after reaching the 1,000 receiving yards milestone, it had a seriously negative effect on the flow of the offense.
“Unfortunately, Nico had a lower leg injury with the calf, and we lost him for the game,” Ryans said. “Of course, it hurts when one of your best playmakers is not there, right, it hurts us but this game it strictly came down to, credit to the Jets. Their players, they made plays.
“They made plays and we didn’t. You go out and you play that way, you don’t make plays, you don’t deserve to win the football game. So, we didn’t show up and make enough plays to win and when you play like that, that’s what will happen.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.