Jadeveon Clowney wasn't the only one blaming turf for a significant injury last year.
On Thursday, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers jumped into the fray, suggesting that the turf at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay had everything to do with the calf injury that hampered him throughout the playoffs.
"The calf was, in my opinion, due to the poor surface in Tampa," Rodgers said on his radio show with WAUK-AM in Milwaukee. "Tampa is where I hurt my shoulder as well, back in 2008, and I think that there needs to be looked at some more uniformity as far as the field conditions.
"I think there's a couple of surfaces that are more likely to create injury than prevent injury," Rodgers continued. "There's some incredible surfaces in the NFL. There's some ones that I think need to be looked at. Tampa is one of them because of the amount of play, I think, that happens there.
"When you put down so much sod and it's very uneven and soft, I think it can lend to more injuries. I've played there three times and been hurt there, in my opinion directly related to the field, twice."
Tampa Sports Authority, which manages Raymond James Stadium, commented on the manner:
"The field quality tests conducted prior to and following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Green Bay Packers game on December 21, 2014 as required by the NFL, indicated that the Raymond James Stadium field was well within compliance with the NFL Field Guidelines," a Tampa Sports Authority spokesperson told NFL Media on Friday. "These same tests were conducted at every 2014 Buccaneer home game at Raymond James Stadium, and all were well within compliance with the NFL Field Guidelines."
Rodgers' claim is a serious one and, because it's coming from a quarterback, could bring some complaints taken less seriously to light.
If anything, the league should force all 32 clubs to come to a consensus on field quality, so accusations like this go away. Having any player lose playing time specifically because of uneven sod seems like a slap in the face to a sport with a 100 percent injury rate otherwise.
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