Houston Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney blames turf for knee injury
Jadeveon Clowney is out four-six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his torn meniscus in the Houston Texans regular season opening win against Washington, but its how the No. 1 overall pick out of South Carolina got hurt that has people talking on Monday.
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Clowney pressured Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III and jumped when he landed down on what he called a “hole” on the NRG Stadium field and that’s how he got hurt. The former Gamecocks All-American confided in his former college teammate and current Texans teammate, D.J. Swearinger.
"“He told me on the field when it happened, he was just like, ‘Bro, I just jumped, came down and hit one of the holes on the field,’ ” said Swearinger. “There are a few holes in the grass, so he said he thought he stepped on one of those holes and got hurt. So I told him to try and walk it off, see if he could go. He went in the next play and couldn’t go, so I told him to go to the sideline and see what’s up with it. And he went over to the sideline, and I guess that’s when they told him (he had to stay out).”"
The playing surface in Houston has come into question in the past when former Texans punter Brett Hartmann sued the venue-management company SMG and the Harris County Convention and Sports Corporation in 2012 and that case still has not come to a resolution.
Former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker tore his ACL there in 2010 which prompted Bill Belichick to say, “The turf down there is terrible.”… “I really think it’s one of the worst fields I’ve seen.”
Whether it was a shoddy playing surface that led to the injury or not, Clowney and the Texans must deal with the fallout of losing their starting outside linebacker and the No. 1 pick in the draft for as much as six weeks.