The Philadelphia Eagles won't have defensive tackle Jalen Carter on the field for the Week 6 game against the New York Giants and the decision reportedly is not only because of injury.
Carter popped up on the Eagles' injury report on Wednesday with a heel issue, and that's typically a bad sign for a player's availability.
However, the heel injury wasn't the only thing that played a role in Carter's absence. Here's the lowdown from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Why is Jalen Carter inactive?
According to Rapoport, the notoriously bad MetLife Stadium turf played a role in the Eagles decision to sit Carter. Talk about a home-field advantage.
"For the Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Carter, one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, out tonight with a heel injury," Rapoport said. "Somewhat of a surprise. My understanding is the turf at MetLife Stadium played a part in his decision."
It is no secret that the turf at MetLife is terrible.
In fact, we saw another example of that recently, when Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers appeared to get his foot caught in the turf and went on to suffer a torn ACL.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that teams are so scared of the turf at MetLife that one executive told him "if a player is nursing an injury, he might be less apt to play through it for a game at MetLife."
It looks like we have that in the flesh with Carter on Thursday night.
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