Re: Season Opener Field Conditions
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...ds_22DEC08.pdf
second source
http://www.sportssafety.org/presenta...natural-grass/
Re: Season Opener Field Conditions
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.
Re: Season Opener Field Conditions
Interesting article about it.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/po...n-injury-issue
Quote:
"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.
Quote:
"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/twincitie...4/daily42.html
Quote:
“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