"$40,000,000 athletes playing on this stuff": Bills' Von Miller tears into Tottenham Stadium turf after Week 5 vs Jaguars
Von Miller has seen and done it all in the NFL at 34 years old. However, the star pass rusher was taken aback by the state of the turf at Tottenham Stadium across the pond. Von Miller got a first-hand feel of it in Week 5 as the team took on the Jaguars in the league's early morning primetime window. Here's how Von Miller expressed his shock, via the Pat McAfee Show:
"I really couldn't believe that we had high-class athletes playing on this stuff. I really couldn't believe we had high-class athletes, $40 million athletes playing on this stuff, man. It was insane. It just felt like it was hard and it was tight. And it, oh my god, just felt stiff."
Von Miller went on, slamming the ground surface in London:
"It felt like it didn't have any padding underneath and I've been playing football for 13 years and that was some of the worst turf I've played on."
The turf debate and mounting complaints about the rise of artificial grass in the league have become weekly after Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles in Week 1. Complaints existed before, but now it seems that a new athlete criticizes the league's investment in the infrastructure every week.
Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari has been another big name to call out the league for continuing to use turfs.
How many NFL stadiums still use artificial turf?
About half of the league's stadiums still house good old-fashioned organic green grass. The specific type of grass, per NBC Bay Area, varies. A majority have Bermuda grass, while Kentucky bluegrass and a combination make up the others.
That said, majority of the teams in the NFL play on artificial grass. Out of the 32 teams in the NFL, 17 of them play home games on artificial turf. The New York Giants, New York Jets, Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams all share stadiums with artificial turf.
In general, the newer stadiums use artificial turf, while older stadiums have old-school grass. This means as stadiums get replaced over time, the number of teams using artificial turf will only increase as older stadiums crumble. This could mean that Patrick Mahomes retires, a truly green grass stadium could become a rarity for teams to play on.
The belief is that by using artificial turf, stadiums can generate extra revenue by holding events other than football games. Concerts, events and other performances often use the game location just days before NFL teams take the field on Sundays.
Von Miller prepares for first United States game in nearly full calendar year
While the pass rusher is now back on the gridiron after rehabbing from an ACL tear, he has yet to play his first game on American soil this season. That will change this weekend as the Bills take on the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.
It will be the first game for the pass rusher since Thanksgiving of 2022 when he suffered a catastrophic knee injury. Bills fans hope the pass rusher will hit the artificial grass running will a number of sacks on Daniel Jones. If he sacks Jones, it will be his first sack since Nov. 13, 2022.