Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is great at making money and making headlines.

Sometimes, the headlines aren't good, but it has never seemed to impact the money Jones makes. In fact, some would argue that publicity has only helped.

In just the last three weeks, Jones made headlines for wearing a problematic Halloween costume, and in another story, was sued by a woman claiming he sexually assaulted her in front of Cowboys players.

Jerry Jones
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Six years ago, Jones called data linking CTE to current and former football players  "absurd".

The only thing absurd was Jones's take. Now, he's at it again.

A big talking point around the NFL this season has revolved around playing turf.

A recent string of injuries has led players to be more outspoken about their preference to play games on grass fields as opposed to turf fields.

When the subject was broached with Jones during his weekly radio interview on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, he was asked if NFL teams would all move to only playing on grass in the future. During his response, he made a ridiculous claim.

“Not at all. And not because we have the surface that we have. By our stats, our league stats don’t see issues with the type surface that we have as opposed to natural grass,” Jones claimed. “We don’t see issues. No facts bear that out.”

Jones response of "not at all" is expected. Despite the elevated injury risk, one reason NFL owners use turf is that it's more cost-efficient than grass.

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But Jones's claim of "stats" backing up the idea that a turf playing surface does not possess a higher rate of injury than grass is either based on an alternative study he hasn't shared with anyone or is simply a flat-out lie.

Jerry Jones
Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images
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A study conducted by the NFLPA over 7 seasons proved what everyone else found to be obvious. More injuries occur on turf fields than on grass fields.

Based on NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018, not only was the contact injury rate for lower extremities higher during practices and games held on artificial turf, NFL players consistently experienced a much higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries on turf compared to natural surfaces. Specifically, players have a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries when playing on artificial turf. Of those non-contact injuries, players have a 32% higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a staggering 69% higher rate of non-contact foot/ankle injuries on turf compared to grass.

NFLPA - Only Natrual Grass Levels the Playing Field

As the stats prove, Jones is wrong in his "stats" take.

Every NFL injury isn't caused by turf, and many NFL injuries are unavoidable.

But not all, and the stats back it up.

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