San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle had never experienced the turf at MetLife Stadium — until Sunday.
After the Niners’ 34-24 win over the Giants, Kittle gave a review of the stadium in the Meadowlands. While he felt that the conditions were “significantly better” than expected — because the field was “all packed down and people have been playing on it,” he said — Kittle still doesn’t understand how the NFL can’t mandate it to be better.
“My only issue with it is, when someone’s field is the butt of a joke throughout all of social media constantly, on every NFL meme page, all that stuff, everybody jokes about how bad it is, I feel like, at that point, someone should just take a look at it,” Kittle said, via X/Twitter. “no NFL field should be the butt of a joke ever.
“I feel like all the fields should have a level of safety to (them). ... There shouldn’t be 12 different turfs and 12 different grass fields, and then a couple guys have the same things. I just think that’s weird ... it’s not like basketball players are playing on a different hardwood, that’s all the same. Soccer players in Europe are all playing on really nice grass. So that’s just weird to me.”
In 2023, The Athletic published an anonymous NFL player poll. After conducting a survey of 85 players, MetLife ranked as the worst stadium in the league — 18.4 percent of players polled said the Jets’ and Giants’ home field was the least enjoyable place to play.
One player told The Athletic, “turf sucks and the whole place is lame.”
The oft-criticized turf in East Rutherford was replaced prior to the 2023 season, but it has still caused injury and frustration. The turf vs. grass debate was reignited just four snaps into Aaron Rodgers’ time as Jets quarterback when the four-time NFL MVP tore his Achilles in Week 1 against the Bills at MetLife.
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