Eagles

They’re Blaming Jordan Love’s Injury on the Playing Surface and/or Jalen Carter Being Dirty

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Sep 7th, 2024 · 9:22 AM EDT

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Checking social media on a Saturday morning:

I’ve watched the tackle from Jalen Carter on Jordan Love about 50 times now.

I’m telling you, Jalen Carter was doing absolutely everything in his power to try and break Loves leg.

Disgustingly dirty tackle by just a terrible human being.

Hope Love is ok 🫶

— TOMMY FOOTBALL UK 🇬🇧🏈 (@TommyFootballUK) September 7, 2024

We all agree that the field conditions were terrible in Brazil. There is no disputing that. We all watched the players slip and slide from the 1st quarter through the fourth, a grotesque flashback to Super Bowl 57 in Phoenix, Arizona.

And while the surface was shite, it had nothing to do with Love’s injury, because Love was rolled up by the combination of Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat. For context, this was on the Packers’ final drive and they trying to move into field position for a Hail Mary. Love was able to pitch the ball backwards while extending the play, and Carter missed on his initial tackle. While laying on the ground, he tried to wrap him up as Love was pushed over by Sweat:

Here’s a replay of the play on which Packers QB Jordan Love was injured: pic.twitter.com/vfDHJNaPF5

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 7, 2024

It’s a tough play to watch, and you really feel for the guy. Nobody wants to see a franchise quarterback go down. But nothing about that sequence had anything to do with the surface. He’s not losing his footing, he’s being tackled by 300 pound men. And it’s highly dubious that Carter was being dirty. If he grabbed a single ankle and twisted, absolutely, but you see him reach out with his right arm and try to pull both legs together and that’s a football play. Unfortunately, it’s an injury inside every NFL stadium and an injury on every Premier League surface. It would be an injury in China, Uzbekistan, and Madagascar. What we have here is a classic case of two things being true. 1) the surface was terrible and 2) the Love injury had nothing to do with it.