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The San Francisco 49ers piled a season-high 37 points on the east coast in Charlotte on Sunday, October 9. But unfortunately, there was another pile up elsewhere against the Carolina Panthers.
An injury pile up.
As head coach Kyle Shanahan put it after the game, the injuries “took away from a little bit of the excitement” from the 49ers’ 37-15 romp of the Panthers.
And the stack of injuries brought out a vocal George Kittle in the locker room.
Kittle Reveals What Confuses Him
Fortunately for Kittle, he was not on the injury report after the 49ers collected win No. 3 of the 2022 season.
However, Kittle told reporters that he left the 22-point win confused…about the league not mandating a place that Kittle has brought up on the past.
“The thing that just confuses me is, if you’re going to go from grass and you’re not going to mandate grass, then why not all-turf fields are the exact same turf?” Kittle asked reporters (h/t NBC Sports Bay Area). So guys are used to playing on the same turf everywhere. But every field is a different turf. So it’s just like you’re playing on a different surface.”
Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte went with field turf on April 28, 2021. One reason behind the switch to the playing surface? The arrival of the Charlotte Football Club — a new Major League Soccer franchise that shares the venue with the Panthers.
“Based on that increased activity, Tepper Sports & Entertainment vice president and chief operating officer Mark Hart acknowledged that the organization is making the switch to FieldTurf in order to provide a consistent playing surface,” the news release said last year.
Furthermore, Tepper Sports and Entertainment vice president and chief operating officer Mark Hart stated the reasoning behind to switch to the more synthetic surface.
“[David Tepper’s] vision is for the building to be a community asset,” Hart said. “With two major professional sports franchises using Bank of America Stadium, and more events upcoming, having a natural grass surface is going to be a heavy lift. We believe a synthetic surface provides the best solution.”
While synthetic surfaces provide an all-weather element where muddy fields are no longer in existence, NFLPA president J.C. Tretter wrote a lengthy letter in 2021 stating the need to switch to natural surfaces for health and safety reasons.
Kittle Vocal Before About Trying to Help ‘Flip the Turf’
It’s not the first time Kittle has gone after the league for playing surfaces.
During Super Bowl 56, and while watching Odell Beckham Jr. clutch his knee in agony with what was later revealed to be a torn ACL, Kittle was among the vocal ones aiming to “flip the turf,” joining fellow 49er teammates Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa.
Bosa was among the notable injuries from the Panthers win (groin tightness). Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, who delivered his first pick six of his career, was another significant injury with what Shanahan believes is a torn ACL.
Kittle ended his day hauling in five catches for 47 yards. But he spent his postgame blasting the league over playing surfaces — continuing his plea for 32 fields with an even playing surface.
“NBA guys don’t play on different wood. So what are we doing? Hockey guys don’t play on different ices all the time…it’s ice,” Kittle said. “So I just wish that we played on surface that was similar every single week in and week out…so your body wouldn’t just be dealing with different, crappy turf.”
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