Eli Manning Throws NFL Players Under Bus, Sides With Turf Field Fans By Calling Them 'Reliable'
With one single sentence, Eli Manning could have gone a long way toward changing MetLife Stadium. Hell, he could have removed the last six remaining turf fields out of NFL stadiums.
But he blew it.
The two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback for the New York Giants was asked about the biggest side-topic this past week: Are NFL turf fields worse than real grass?
“I think the turf, it gives you a reliable field all the time,” Manning said this past week during an interview with Front Office Sports.
The NFL Players Association wants to ban silk film turf. (Getty Images)
RELIABLE? FOR WHO?
The turf vs. grass debate of course has been brought up after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was injured while trying to scramble away from the Buffalo Bills defense this past Monday night.
Reliability seems to only be a key for a handful of teams, with only six out of 32 still using field turf, Eli.
It's so reliable by the way, Eli, that the MetLife powers-that-be decided to TAKE IT OUT and put in real grass when Arsenal faced Manchester United earlier this summer because the teams refused to play on turf. The MetLife owners dropped millions of dollars on their new synthetic turf, then took it out for real grass, only to put it back on again. For two teams that aren't even football teams; they aren't even based in this country!
So reliable, by the way, that Joe Burrow contradicted Eli's take and burnt it to the ground.
“I think the most important thing is having a standard for the turf fields, having each turf field across the league have a standard, and all of them are the same. Everywhere you go that has turf, each turf is different," the star Bengals quarterback told NBC Sports.
AARON RODGERS TORE HIS ACHILLES ON METLIFE'S TURF
For those that don't do their homework, the debate has been a major issue for years now. The NFLPA has repeatedly petitioned and written to Roger Goodell and the NFL to step in and do something about turf fields. The NFL's response? Their own analysis and data showed that the level of injuries wasn't higher between the two surfaces. Many players vehemently disagree - especially those that have suffered serious lower leg injuries because the turf "doesn't give" like grass would.
Aaron Rodgers was helped off the field after suffering an Achilles injury on MetLife Stadium's turf field. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
ELI DOESN'T GET IT
Manning, in his conversation with Front Office Sports, pointed out that “The Giants played in that same stadium in a big rain storm. If you played that game and you had to play another game on Monday night on the same field, it would be ripped up and muddy and wet and all messed up anyways. So I think it eliminates that."
The point is Eli, that if you are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into your team, why would you ever give them a disadvantage by having them play on a field that the overwhelming majority of players are publicly screaming that they don't want? It's almost deliberate negligence by both Giants owner John Mara and Jets owner Woody Johnson.
You know exactly what this is about and it's called M-O-N-E-Y.
Manning continued to defend his former boss John Mara over the NFLPA as well over players like his former teammate Odell Beckham Jr., Randall Cobb, David Bakhtiari and others.
"You always have a clean surface, the turf didn’t have a factor in that injury," Manning said.
Well if you look at the replay it sure as heck looks like Rodgers cleats didn't create any sort of divot like grass ones would have. But regardless, just because it didn't cause the injury this time, why would you even risk it in the future?
This isn't just to Eli, this is to all the owners out there that refuse to listen to the players that they are paying with their own money.
Aaron Rodgers was the NFL's biggest story this year. If his season-ending injury on the first possession of the first game of the season didn't make a universal call for real grass, then unfortunately I don't think it happens any time soon.
Unless you play soccer of course.