Inside the NFL turf debate: Injuries, safety measures, problems

For years, the grass field at Nissan Stadium in Nashville was a mess. It was loose in some areas and barren in others, and it got increasingly slippery during the Tennessee Titans' regular season. Worse, according to data collected by the NFL and the NFL Players Association, there was a higher rate of noncontact injuries to the lower extremities on that grass field than on artificial turf in some NFL stadiums.

So the Titans, along with the local governments that own the stadium, made a decision they said would improve safety and would be supported by the data. Before the start of the 2023 season, they converted the playing surface to a version of monofilament synthetic turf called Matrix…