The Concussion Blog

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).  It also should be noted that due to the league not disclosing actual injuries until Friday night there may be some added to next weeks numbers.

With the relatively low regular season number and usual scouring needed to find concussions being less cumbersome now we have had time to delve back into the preseason concussions.  We note that preseason numbers are not reliable, but having the concussions cataloged can tell us some interesting things.  Notably, we can look at the offense/defense split, the position and the number of players that were cut.  Although in most cases the reason for players being let go is strictly performance based, it is worth the notation.

In preseason there is a larger population of players, therefore we should expect higher numbers – one would think.  However, the majority of playing time goes to the reserves and those not secured on the roster, your “non-superstars” if you will.  Also we have noted in some cases from the past that the “better” players once getting a preseason concussion have no impetus to return to the field when the games don’t mean much.  For these reasons and others the preseason number of concussions is more of an abstract painting, if you will.

While examining the preseason concussions we were able to eliminate one from our previous reports, solidifying the preseason concussion at 54 rather than 55.  With that here are some of the findings: 33 offensive/21 defensive… WR’s led the way with 15…  DB’s almost comprised half of the defensive concussions with 10…  18 players were either cut, reserved, IR’ed or retired, meaning getting a concussion in the preseason could lead to a 33% chance you don’t play in the season…  JAX led the way with 5 reported, while NYJ, NYG, CIN, DAL, IND & ARI had 4 reported…  SF, CAR, PIT, WAS, STL, ATL, DEN, MIA, NE & NO all reported zero in preseason…

Many were asking about the preseason and what it meant and for all the years compiling this we still cannot discern solid trends from the preseason translating to the regular season.  The raw numbers from the seasons are ’10 – 8, ’11 – 46, ’12 – 48, and ’13 – 54; steady increase after the massive jump, yet numbers in regular season are down this year.  Typically the teams reporting more in the preseason do not report more in the regular season, but Jacksonville seems to be holding a very steady pace over the years (which is good in my book).  Honestly in terms of trends and statistics the preseason is good for getting our sourcing correct and finding roster trends.

We should also note that Bye Weeks are now rotating through the league, so fewer players on the field/practicing during weeks 4-12, this will naturally shift the numbers down, or would if this were a linear injury.  However, we have and will continue to note that this is not a linear progression, it is exponential in nature.  Just keep that in your memory bank.

Now that we have that out-of-the-way let us move on to the Week 4 Report (indicates previous weeks numbers);

• 8 concussions/head injuries found from Week 4 (8)
• 29 regular season concussions noted (21)
• 83 total concussions in 2013 (75, see notes above about preseason)
• 7.25 Concussions/week (7.00)
• 123 Projected Concussions (119)
• 0.48 Concussions/game (.46)
• 8.37% InR (8.08)
• 7.27% EInR (7.02)

Running Totals for Regular Season:

• 14 Offensive (11) – 15 Defense (10)
• Positionally Speaking
  • QB – 1 (1), RB – 2 (2), TE – 2 (2), WR – 6 (4), OL – 3 (2), DL – 4 (0), LB – 3 (2), DB – 8 (8)
  • Team Breakdown
    • JAX, NYJ, OAK – 3
    • GB, HOU, SD, SF, WAS – 2
    • BAL, CAR, CIN, DAL, KC, NYG, PHI, PIT, STL, TEN – 1
    • ARI, ATL, BUF, CHI, CLE, DEN, DET, IND, MIA, MIN, NE, NO, SEA, TB – 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 4: # (2012, 2011, 2010):
  • Regular Season Concussions – 29 (40, 34, 33)