Bills Player Calls Tottenham Stadium Turf 'F--king Cement' After Loss vs. Jaguars

Player complaints against turf aren't limited to NFL stadiums located in the United States.

After Sunday's 25-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, at least one Buffalo Bills player was upset about the playing surface used at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.

Speaking to Ryan O'Halloran of the Buffalo News, one unnamed Bills player said: "We came all the way over to London to play on f--king cement?"

Bills cornerback Taron Johnson was injured during the game when his foot got stuck and his knee crashed into the turf on a blitz against Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Even though the training staff brought a medical cart onto the field, Johnson was able to walk off under his own power. He wound up returning to the game on the next defensive series and told O'Halloran he was "blessed" to avoid a serious injury.

But like the unnamed player, Johnson also told O'Halloran the turf was a problem.

"That f--king turf, to be honest with you. The turf was terrible here," Johnson said. "They have to get rid of it–report that. If we can do grass, we should do grass."

O'Halloran noted natural grass is used in the stadium for Tottenham games, but it is replaced by an artificial surface for NFL games. This was the seventh NFL game at the stadium since 2019.

There has been an ongoing debate about artificial turf vs. grass in NFL stadiums. Many players have spoken out publicly about their desire to have grass in every stadium because it's easier on the body.

The NFL and NFLPA compiled data from the 2018 to '21 seasons that did show injury rates were higher on turf in three of those years, but the 2021 season was largely the same.

In April, NFLPA president J.C. Tretter published an article with statistical data from 2012 to '20 showing lower injury rates on grass and called the 2021 data an "outlier."

Seventeen of the NFL's 32 teams play home games in stadiums that use artificial turf. Among the reasons teams might prefer turf to grass is because it requires less year-round maintenance and it allows other events to take place in the venue, like concerts, without having to worry about the potential damage it might cause to a grass surface.