Now that the dust has settled on J.J. McCarthy’s injury, and his rookie season, it’s fair to ask a simple question.
How did he tear the meniscus in his knee?
There’s no obvious moment from his preseason debut at U.S. Bank Stadium that resulted in the injury. No direct hit on the knee. No awkward plant. No wobble.
It might be something as simple as the forces from the artificial turf (brand new this year in Minnesota) ricocheting from the ground back up to the leg and resulting in a tearing of the cartilage.
Consider this: “Any activity that causes you to forcefully twist or rotate your knee, especially when putting your full weight on it, can lead to a torn meniscus.”
If the foot was planted in the turf and the rest of the body twisted or rotated, that could be enough to do it.
There won’t be a bright line that connects the injury to the surface. But we already know the issues with fake grass. There’s less give. There’s more force that rebounds from the bottom of the foot back into the leg.
The league spins the grass vs. turf question via carefully-selected injury statistics and efforts to create the impression there’s an actual debate among players. There isn’t. Players overwhelmingly prefer grass.
Again, there’s no way to know with any certainty that the surface contributed to McCarthy’s injury. But with no obvious hit to the lower body causing the injury, it had to be something else that caused him to notice soreness in the knee after the game and to have that soreness end up being a season-ending meniscus tear.
And so the question becomes, with the league ready to spring an 18-game season on the players, will the NFL Players Association secure a commitment to make grass the universal service for all NFL games, regardless of practicalities or cost. If they could do it for the World Cup, they can do it for the best football players in the world.