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 list of players along with relevant statistics. If we have missed a concussion or put one on here erroneously, let us know.
With fewer games there is bound to be fewer concussions, however with more on the line there is a possibility of more instances due to more risk taking. If we were to project our regular season findings into the playoffs we could have expected the following;
- 2-3 concussions
- 1 of those would have been either a wide receiver of defensive back
- 1 of those would have been wearing a helmet no longer manufactured (unless specific request)
In actuality what happened this past weekend was ONE reported concussion (again teams that lost; Philly, Indy, KC and New Orleans, did not have to report any concussions and the journalists following the team are more interested in off-season preparations), of a linebacker, but he was wearing a helmet no longer manufactured.
Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks was the lone issue this past week and according to reports is slated to play in Chicago.
Granted this project of The Concussion Blog is constantly evolving we will continue to track the concussions from each weekend, but again with your help, we will have to identify concussions that are slipping through the cracks.
I am very excited about all the information gathered to this point, as Will Carroll shared with you 45% of the helmets that were on players when they sustained a concussive episode, are models no longer available for purchase, Riddell VSR4 and Schutt AiR. More information about that data that I can share with you; we identified 137 helmets of the 167 known concussions… Our information shows that the helmets ID’ed are very similar to the position demographics of the concussed… A random helmet sample of the games last weekend proved to match previously known estimates.
Our next project is going to be NHL helmets, so hockey buffs out there send us a line, we need education on helmet identification (although not sure how much they actually help in most body hits).
UPDATE:
I would like to clear something up here about the “older helmets”. Those models I am eluding to can and ARE made new by the makers even if they do not show up in catalogs. As was explained to me by a source close to helmet manufacturing who wishes to remain anonymous;
There are several “older” models that have not been in our catalogs for several years, but we have been manufacturing them to order. Those helmets may actually be newer than some of the other helmets out on the field, like the _______.
Thank you for that information!
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