The Green Bay Packers’ David Bakhtiari entered his 11th season in the league by becoming a key weapon of the team in their season-opening match against the Chicago Bears. However, the second match of the season became a ballad of misfortune for the Packers as the wide receiver didn’t play, and the team went down to the Atlanta Falcons.
While the Packers’ week 1 match against the Bears was on the grass, the week 2 match was on the turf. Bakhtiari, being labeled as a big hater of the artificial turf, was rumored to be absent against the Falcons because of the field issue, but the veteran, instead, came up with another reason.
Bakhtiari responds to doubters about his absence
David Bakhtiari has been vocal against the use of artificial turf in the NFL. Many have linked his absence against the Falcons to A-Rod’s injury in his debut match with the New York Jets. The rumor became circulating when his brother Eric Bakhtiari made a social media post, claiming the veteran was taking a stand against turf.
However, the three-time Pro-Bowler smashed the rumors saying his brother just made jokes about it to have some fun. The WR has been embroiled in health issues after tearing his left ACL back in 2020. and has marked it as the only reason behind his absence in the last match.
“If I wasn’t going to play on turf, I’d probably make more of a ruckus. My brother loves drama and he told me he was going to do it, and I’m like, ‘Go right ahead, I don’t give a shit. I don’t care what you do. It’s your social media.’ No, that was not the reason. At all. I clearly have an injury I’ve been dealing with,” he said.
The 31-year-old also lashed out for accusing him of abandoning his fellow teammates in a protest against the artificial turf.
“I would never leave them hanging out to dry. I signed up to play. I plan on playing. And when I can play, I’m going to play. Clearly, if I’m not playing, there’s something going on. It’s not like it’s been a secret. It’s something I’ve been battling with and it’s been shitty. It’s been weighing on me a lot.”
Though exactly when Bakhtiari will be headed to the field remains up in the air, he ensured that the match against Atlanta would probably be the last game he missed this season.
David Bakhtiari unleashes critique on NFL amid Aaron Rodgers’ injury
After being sacked by Buffalo Bills star Leonard Floyd, Aaron tore his ACL in the season opener and his season with Gang Green has potentially come to an end. Following the incident, Bakhtiari made a social media post blaming the artificial turf for A-Rod’s injury.
A few minutes later, he followed with another post to slam the NFL for not giving importance to the player’s health and blamed the authority for preferring soccer players over footballers.
“Congrats @nfl. How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??! You care more about soccer players than us. You plan to remove all artificial turf for the World Cup coming up. So clearly it’s feasible. I’m sick of this..Do better!”
He came up with a third post with some stat regarding injury rates on turf against injury rates on grass to prove his take right.
Even if Bakhtiari is concerned with playing on the turf, he might be rest assured as the Packers’ next two games are at home on the grass at Lambeau Field. Hopefully, his health condition will not be a barrier to his presence in Green Bay’s next match against the New Orleans Saints.
