2012 NFL Concussion Report Week 5

Dustin Fink

The Concussion Blog Original, NFL Concussion Report, is a weekly compiling of the reported head injuries in the National Football League.  Concussions are added to the list each week from multiple sources to give you the reader a picture of what is happening on the field.  Each week we will bring you the information along with relevant statistics.  If we have missed a concussion or put one on here erroneously, let us know (we will also be using Fink’s Rule to classify a concussion/head injury).

This past week was an interesting week for concussion tracking in 2012.  First, week 5 had the most concussions for the week, 12.  Second, week 5 produced our first quarterback concussions (2) with RGII and Matt Cassel.  Third and finally, two players – Laurent Robinson and Daniel Thomas – sustained their second concussion of the season.

A trend that I find unusual, and it is only week 5, is that the offense is now outpacing the defense.  Although it is a bit over 30% more I feel that as the season progresses this will become a 50/50 split as it has been the past two years.

Now on to the numbers for the week (51 total regular season concussions bringing the 2012 total with preseason to 99);

  • 51 Concussions/head injuries (39)
  • 10.2 Concussions/week (9.75)
  • 173 Projected Concussions (166)
  • 0.68 Concussions/game (0.65)
  • 12.04% InR (11.51)
  • 10.22% EInR (9.77)
  • 29 Offensive (23) – 22 Defense (16)
  • Positionally Speaking
    • QB – 2 (0), RB – 6 (3), TE – 7 (7), WR – 11 (10), OL – 3 (3), DL – 3 (3), LB – 9 (5), DB – 10 (8)
  • Team Breakdown
    • OAK – 6
    • CLE, JAX, WAS – 4
    • MIA, NYG – 3
    • BUF, DET, IND, KC, NE, NYJ, STL – 2
    • ATL, BAL, CIN, DAL, DEN, GB, MIN, NO, SD, TB, TEN – 1
    • CAR, CHI, HOU, PHI, PIT, SEA, SF – 0

Our definition of Incidence Rate (InR) is projected concussions/45 players taking the field per team per game, our definition of Epidemiological Incidence Rate (EInR) is projected concussions/53 man roster per team.

Comparing to past seasons the following has been found after Week 5: # (2011, 2010):

  • Regular Season Concussions – 51 (44, 41)

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