Sterling Shepard, top wide receiver of the New York Giants, has been ruled out for the rest of the 2022 NFL season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee in the 23-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday.

Considering that Shepard is in the last year of the restructured contract he signed with the Giants during the offseason, there is a chance that he just played his last game as a Giant. He is the longest-tenured player on the team's roster after making 75 appearances for the franchise since he was drafted as their 40th pick in 2016.

"He's a tremendous person. He's worked so diligently to get back," Giants head coach Brian Daboll said. "Feel so terrible for him that he's had that injury. Big part of our team. Going to miss him out on that field."

Shepard was jogging near the right sideline in the final minutes of the fourth quarter of Monday's game when he suddenly crumbled to the ground without any physical contact with anyone.

"I'm thinking the same thing as you watch it. He's just slowing down. It could have happened; I'm not saying it happened, but you see a couple plays before where he kind of turns when he's running an in-cut, and he's extended. But he went out there on the next play and did something. Again, kind of looked like a freaky accident there," Daboll said.

Shepard's injury has reignited discussions over turf and grass quality. Several players have sustained game- or season-ending injuries in the past two years while playing on the MetLife Stadium's turf. For example, the San Francisco 49ers saw five players exit the game against the New York Jets with lower body injuries at that stadium in 2020. Also, defensive end Nick Bosa and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas out for the rest of the season after that game.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Kyle Fuller tore his ACL in the game against the Jets on September 11. They will play at MetLife Stadium again on October 16 against the Giants.

"Everybody in this league should do everything they can to put the best surface out there. How much is invested in the players who go out there and play, and our league really is a player-driven league, and we want those guys to have the best of the best, especially surfaces to play on," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. "That turf was matted down; it was packed down. It was a little tight. Maybe that's how it's supposed to be. I don't know, but that's what I saw. It was a little tough."

"Billions made off this game. I can't understand why we can't play on grass," Shepard's friend Odell Beckham Jr. posted on Twitter.