Taron Johnson’s Despairing Injury Only Proves Why Patrick Mahomes Was Right About Artificial Turf

In the Jaguars’ second international match of the season, they proved there’s something about the British air. They had played off against the Miami Dolphins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last week. In spite of playing against a team that boasts one of the finest offenses in the league, the Jaguars managed to clinch a 31-18 victory.

They repeated their victory in the games against the Buffalo Bills. While it has been lucky for the Jaguars, the stadium with its artificial turf has been unlucky for the Buffalo Bills.

Jaguars make the Bills eat (fake) grass

The Bills were trailing behind the Jaguars by 4 points midway through the third quarter. The game had been pretty uneventful in terms of points up until then. Then cornerback Taron Johnson fell to the ground, holding his knee.

Johnson is a dominant force in the Bills’ defensive lineup. It seemed that he had hyper-extended his knee. As he went down, he was surrounded by teammates and trainers. The cart was brought in, but being the fighter that he is, he simply got up and jogged to the locker room himself.

While the Bills’ depth chart lists Cam Lewis and Siran Neal as Johnson’s replacements, safety Taylor Rapp had played instead most of the season. Rapp immediately ran to the field to take Johnson’s place. However, as the third quarter was coming to an end, Johnson came running back to the field. Post the game, he spoke to reporters and said, “My foot got stuck in the ground. But I’m okay, thank God.” However, Aaron Rodgers was not so lucky.

Johnson’s words echo what Mahomes pointed out in a tweet

Aaron Rodgers’ 75-second Jets debut came to an end when he was sacked by Leonard Fournette in the season opener against the Buffalo Bills. He tore his Achilles, which has been deemed a season-ending injury. However, the 4x NFL MVP hopes to be back this season. After the incident, Kansas City Chiefs QB and 2x SB MVP, Patrick Mahomes showed his support for grass fields instead of artificial turfs.

Read More: Vikings vs Chiefs: Once a Spectator, Now a Master – Patrick Mahomes’ Unique Connect With the U.S. Bank Stadium

He retweeted a statement by Lloyd Howell, executive director of the NFLPA, which read, “Moving all stadium fields to high-quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make. The players overwhelmingly prefer it and the data is clear that grass is simply safer than artificial turf.”.

Johnson also echoed Mahomes’ sentiment while speaking to the reporters. He said that 90%-100% of the players wanted real grass and that his knee injury was because of the artificial turf. But players’ demands to switch to grass turf have fallen on deaf ears, even as the MLS continues to convert artificial turfs into grass fields for all soccer games. Will the NFL finally wake up and listen to its players’ demand to make the game safer for them?

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