Getty Matt Milano is carted off the field after suffering an injury in a Buffalo Bills game.
Buffalo Bills cornerback Taron Johnson wasn’t happy with the playing conditions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
In their 25-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 8, the Bills suffered a number of key injuries including Pro Bowl linebacker Matt Milano. After the game, Johnson joined other Bills players in taking aim at the turf and blaming the field conditions.
Taron Johnson: ‘That Turf is Terrible’
Johnson was one of several Bills players who suffered injuries in Sunday’s loss. While the veteran nickel cornerback was able to return after briefly exiting with a knee injury, All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano had a much more serious injury.
Milano went down with a leg injury that is expected to end his season. The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported after the game that he suffered a fractured leg along with a potential knee injury.
“#Bills star LB Matt Milano suffered a fractured leg and is feared to have suffered a season-ending knee injury in today’s loss, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo,” Rapoport shared on X. “They are checking on the ACL. MRI coming, but missing the rest of the season is likely. One of the NFL’s best LBs.”
#Bills star LB Matt Milano suffered a fractured leg and is feared to have suffered a season-ending knee injury in today’s loss, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. They are checking on the ACL. MRI coming, but missing the rest of the season is likely. One of the NFL’s best LBs.
The Bills lost other players, including defensive tackle DaQuan Jones. They will likely know but Monday whether Milano will miss the season, which would be a costly loss as he has been one of the team’s best defenders so far this season.
After the game, Johnson took aim at the playing conditions on the field.
“I think that turf is terrible,” Johnson said after the game. “My foot got stuck in the ground, but I’m OK, thank God. Take that turf out, especially that one.”
Johnson added that the game would have been safer if played on grass.
“I’d rather play on grass — I’m sure 90 to 100 percent of the players in the NFL would rather play on grass so I don’t know why we’re playing on stuff like that,” he told reporters.
“There were injuries on the field today, some really really bad. So I just feel like the turf had something to do with it.”
Johnson was not the only Bills player angry about the field. Another unnamed player vented his frustration to Buffalo News reporter Ryan O’Halloran.
“We came all the way over to London to play on f***ing cement?”
Bills Players Sounded Off on Grass vs. Turf Debate
This is not the first time that Bills players have shared strong opinions on turf fields. Edge rusher Von Miller, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear in last year’s Thanksgiving Day win over the Detroit Lions — a game played on turf — has called out the NFL for on-field conditions.
“The game will take a toll on your — twisted ankles, torn ACLs — your body pushed to the brink,” Miller said in April. “We all knew the risk when we signed up, but why do injuries have to come direct from the field?”
The Bills already had another major injury this season, losing All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White in the Week 4 win over the Miami Dolphins.