Bills' players rip Tottenham stadium's "cement" turf, blame surface for on-field injuries: "They have to get rid of it"
The Buffalo Bills took their talents to London in Week 5 to face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Stadium. Buffalo would lose their second game of the season to Jacksonville by a score of 25 - 20. Despite the close loss, the subject was about the playing field at the stadium by several Bills players.
Cornerback Taron Johnson didn't hold back his thoughts to the media about the playing surface at Tottenham Stadium. He said:
That (bleeping) turf, to be honest with you. The turf was terrible here. They have to get rid of it – report that. If we can do grass, we should do grass.”
Johnson left the game for a short time after hitting his knee hard against the turf. One veteran player on the Buffalo roster asked reporter Ryan O'Halloran of the Buffalo News if they flew to London just to play on concrete turf.
Many more players in the team weren't pleased about the turf following the loss. Besides Johnson, other players were examined for injuries throughout the game.
These players were offensive linemen Walker Little and Dion Dawkins, edge rushers Leonard Floyd and Kingsley Jonathan, and defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
However, All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano had the biggest injury suffered on the team in London. Milano will be out for the rest of the season due to a fractured leg and knee injury.
Tottenham Hotspur plays its games on natural grass in its home stadium. Yet, that surface is rolled out and artificial turf is used for the NFL games.
Does the Bills home stadium have artificial turf?
Buffalo is one of 14 teams in the NFL that plays their home game on artificial turf. To be exact, they play on an A-Turf Titan 50. The team also witnessed first hand the dangers of the turf in the opening week of the season.
The Bills faced the New York Jets at MetLife, which also uses artificial turf. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the first quarter of that game.
There have been calls to change the artificial playing surfaces by players due to various injuries. We'll see if the league does make any modifications in the future regarding this issue.