When he was in school, J.Okay. Dobbins usually performed on turf fields, and did so with out incident. He by no means missed a sport over his three seasons at Ohio State.
But now that Dobbins is within the NFL, and now that he’s recovered from a major knee damage, the Ravens working again is a bit more cautious of fields like MetLife Stadium’s. The Ravens misplaced cornerback Kyle Fuller (knee) and left sort out Ja’Wuan James (Achilles tendon) to season-ending accidents of their Week 1 win over the host New York Jets. On Sunday, they’ll return to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to face the New York Giants — and their artificial turf.
“No one likes the turf,” Dobbins, who’s by no means performed at MetLife Stadium, mentioned Thursday. “As the older guys would say, like, ‘Man, it hurts my body.’ Maybe that’s true. Maybe I’ll start feeling that as I continue on in my career. But it is terrible.”
Dobbins missed all of final season after tearing the ACL, LCL and meniscus in his left knee final yr, alongside along with his hamstring. He returned to motion in Week 3, and has 28 carries for 108 yards and a landing in three video games.
Ravens coaches have monitored Dobbins’ workload throughout practices and video games, however gamers say the turf presents its personal challenges. Coach John Harbaugh declined to touch upon the Giants’ taking part in subject this week, however he mentioned after Week 1 that “the turf doesn’t usually give as much as grass.”
Dobbins pointed to Giants extensive receiver Sterling Shepard, who tore his ACL in Week 3 on a noncontact, innocuous-looking jog. In the times after the sport, Giants working again Saquon Barkley piled on, saying he wasn’t “really a fan of turf.”
“They’ve got to do something about that,” Dobbins mentioned Thursday.
M&T Bank Stadium and the Ravens’ outside observe fields each have grass taking part in surfaces, and Harbaugh final month credited the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns for avoiding artificial fields.
“I just feel like everybody in this league should do everything they can to put the best surface out there,” he mentioned final month. “How much is invested in the players who go out there and play, and our league really is a player driven league, and we want those guys to have the best of the best, especially surfaces to play on.”
San Francisco 49ers tight finish George Kittle, who noticed a number of teammates undergo accidents on turf fields at MetLife Stadium and the Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium, additionally known as for constant taking part in surfaces throughout the league.
“The thing that just confuses me is if you’re not going to mandate grass, then why aren’t turf fields the exact same turf so guys get used to playing on the same turf everywhere? But every field has a different turf,” Kittle informed native reporters earlier this week. “I just wish we played on a surface that was similar every single week in, week out so your body won’t just be dealing with different, crappy turf.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com