Josh Jacobs Responds to Criticism of Unpopular Pitch After Injury
Green Bay Packers running back, Josh Jacobs was limited to just 22% of offensive snaps after suffering a knee injury mid way through week 11 against the New York Giants.
Jacobs was not the first – and sadly will likely be far from the last person to see himself suffer an injury on the Giants‘ artificial MetLife Stadium turf.
The field is renowned for being one of the least liked in the entire league, and Jacobs expressed his very clear feelings on the nature of the pitch in the lead up to week 12’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Packers’ Josh Jacobs Shares His Thoughts On MetLife Stadium
Josh Jacobs hates MetLife Stadium and its hard surface that injured his knee last Sunday:
“Definitely the worst. Always been the worst. I know if I ever play there again I will never talk about it because I talked about it all week, how bad it was, and it bit me in the ass.”
“Definitely the worst,” Jacobs said when asked to rank where MetLife Stadium ranked amongst the different surfaces to play on across the league. “Always been the worst. I know if I ever play there again I will never talk about it because I talked about it all week, how bad it was, and it bit me in the ass.”
Perhaps Jacobs’ words would have been even more emphatic if his knee injury had been more severe, but it was fairly clear what point he was trying to put across.
And as the reporter points out, perhaps the most remarkable feat of all this is that Jacobs only missed one full day of practice, having not participated on November 19th, and came in as a limited participant on November 20th.
As of the 20th, Jacobs – alongs with 15 other members of the team’s active roster – remains questionable to play this weekend.
MetLife Stadium Has A Poor Injury Record In The NFL
The pitch in New Jersey has a long history of being one of the most brutal and injury-prone for players to play on. Aaron Rodgers famously tore his Achilles in just his fourth offensive snap in his inaugural 2023 season with the New York Jets – who share the stadium with the Giants.
And later on that season, former Miami Dolphins edge rusher, Jaelan Phillips, suffered the exact same injury at the stadium, prompting Phillips’ ex teammate and now – ironically – Giants safety, Jevon Holland called the field “trash” in the aftermath of the injury to the defensive end.
The general trend of artificial “turf” being criticized by players, as opposed to natural grass, always seems to come to a head when MetLife is being discussed.
The artificial field covering is harder and has less shock absorption compared to grass, which makes landings harder, more painful and leads to a higher injury risk.
In addition, the pitch’s toughness can also lead to cleat’s getting stuck in the pitch, which when a player is otherwise moving at high speeds can easily cause them to rupture and tear key ligaments in the knee and other parts of the lower leg.
Despite the fact that both New York teams actually changed turf provider earlier in 2023, prior to both Rodgers’ and Phillips’ injuries later that fall, it has not seemed to make much of a difference – if any at all – to the almost constant swath of problems that seem to occur on that pitch.
Buzzer-beating Bulls eager for easier ride against Heat
Relying on late-game heroics is "not sustainable basketball," Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan finds.
While his players agree, they've decided to excel at this style anyway.
The Bulls return home Friday to face the Miami Heat in NBA Cup play still beaming over Wednesday's buzzer-beater in Portland. Nikola Vucevic drilled a 3-pointer to secure a 122-121 win, rescuing the Bulls after they squandered a 21-point fourth-quarter lead.
Chicago improved to 6-4 in "clutch" games -- when the score difference is within five points in the fourth quarter or overtime. Creating distance from those situations when possible, however, remains the goal.
"We can't always sit here and talk about resilience," Vucevic said. "At some point, we have to beat a team that once we do get up 10, 15, even ... 20, like (Wednesday), we stay with our foot on the gas and finish the game off."
Chicago and Miami are 1-1 in East Group C of the NBA Cup. Milwaukee leads the group at 2-0.
The Bulls have dominated the recent series with the Heat, going 8-2 in the regular season. Coby White, who dished the assist on Vucevic's big trey in Portland after driving into the lane and drawing defenders, has scored 20-plus points in five of his past six regular-season games versus Miami.
Vucevic has posted four straight double-doubles against the Heat in the regular season. That's no surprise to White.
"He's our connector. He's our leader. He makes big-time plays," White said. "He's super important to what we do. We rely on him. He has a high IQ and good feel for the game. He's so dangerous. He can roll. He can pop. He's a really, really good basketball player."
Friday marks the beginning of a brief, two-game road trip for the Heat, who are in the middle of playing 10 of 13 at home.
Miami has lost four of its last five away from Kaseya Center, but in the past two defeats was either without star center Bam Adebayo or he played limited minutes. Adebayo sustained a left toe strain during the first quarter of the Heat's Nov. 5 loss at Denver before returning to the lineup for Wednesday's 110-96 home win against Golden State.
He contributed 20 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes.
"I felt good," Adebayo said. "Just trying to find a rhythm, let the game come to me. And it did at some point."
After his career-best streak of 19 games with a 3-pointer ended in Denver, Adebayo shot 3-for-4 from deep Wednesday.
"We definitely missed him and glad to have him back," said the Heat's Norman Powell, who led the team with 25 points and has scored at least that many in four of the past five games.
Heat guard Nikola Jovic missed Wednesday's game with a right hip impingement he felt while attempting to work out earlier in the day and has been ruled out for Friday's game.
Chicago swept Miami 3-0 last season, winning each game by nine points or less.
