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Packers safety Evan Williams talks about his game-clinching interception

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams collected his second interception of the season on a crucial takeaway in the team’s win over the Giants.

NFL players for years have been sounding the alarm about MetLife Stadium’s playing surface.

It has continued in 2025.

And on Sunday, Nov. 16, a Green Bay Packers rookie got to experience it for the first time. Let’s just say, he was no fan.

Warren Brinson, a defensive tackle, took to X hours after the Packers’ 27-20 win over the New York Giants on a blustery day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to share his thoughts:

“Had fun playing on concrete for the 1st time,” Brinson wrote on X, following by a laughing face emoji.

Brinson, a sixth-round draft pick by the Packers out of Georgia, played in only six snaps in the game with one tackle.

But it was enough to feel what so many others have felt for a long time at MetLife Stadium, home to the Giants and New York Jets.

Before the 2023 season, a new artificial turf system was installed at MetLife Stadium with the intent to reduce injuries.

But in Week 1 of that season one of the game’s most prominent players went down with a major injury on the field on “Monday Night Football.” Former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, in his first game with the New York Jets, tore his Achilles just four plays into the game.

It didn’t take long for players to call for change to the turf following Rodgers’ injury. The NFL Players Association sent a letter to the NFL that sought a change to all grass fields and former Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari and three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year JJ Watt also spoke out. Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips, then a member of the Miami Dolphins, also tore his Achilles later that year when playing the Jets at MetLife.

“How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??!” Bakhtiari put out on X after the Rodgers injury. 

Respect and u kno I loveeeee the giants , but DeathLife has taken too many talented players away from the game. I kno it’s not ALL the turfs fault but at least maybe it to where we’ve gotten all research done to if TURF has to stay it’s at the HIGHEST of quality possible. At…

— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) September 29, 2025

Two years later, MetLife still uses the artificial turf as does half of all NFL stadiums.

The conversation about the turf at MetLife, however, reignited after two players suffered injuries during a game this season.

In the Week 4 game on Sept. 28 between the Giants and Los Angeles Chargers, Giants budding star wide receiver Malik Nabers tore his ACL attempting a catch, ending his season. Chargers left tackle Joe Alt also exited with a high ankle sprain that forced him to miss the next three games.

Former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who knows that field quite well and suffered a fractured ankle while playing at MetLife in 2017, told the NFL on X after the latest injuries to “get rid of the turf.”

Beckham, who referred to MetLife Stadium as “DeathLife,” said injuries on the field have “taken too many talented players away from the game.”

In response to questions on the MetLife Stadium turf in October, NFL Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy, Player Health and Safety Initiatives Jeff Miller defended the surface.

“MetLife they had one of the lowest injury rates not just for synthetic (turf), but across the league last year,” Miller said. “So any injury that occurred on our surface regardless of what they are we want to investigate and learn from so they can be deterred we want to do that.”

He added that the MetLife field surface is “playing really well and has for a while.”