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.
This is the last set of numbers I feel most confident about, as you will recall this coming week has proven to be difficult at best when finding concussions in the NFL. Rather than boring you in this post with the reasons please click on the link above for that information.
In Week 16 there were only 13 concussions found, I say “only” because it seemed to Twitter, broadcasts and me, there were more players that exhibited something on the field that warranted further investigation. The skeptic in me is also screaming at me to say that playoff eligible teams – especially those that have not clinched – are “gaming” they injury system. To be fair, concussions are not the only injury being messed around in the “grey area”. As I said that is the skeptic in me, the recent weeks have placed some better faith in the reporting system this season.
Something must be done to address – at the least acknowledge what we have found – the massive back-end of the season concussions we continue to see on a yearly basis. The numbers cannot be easily washed away with the narrative that all teams are playing (versus bye weeks) as we have exposed. It is very stark, the difference: weeks 1-9 there were 67 concussions in weeks 10-16 there have been 92. When the NFL talks of expanding the schedule to 18 games I fear we will see an even bigger increase in the back half of the season. There is a possible solution (more of a band-aid) though: two bye weeks. It will expand the season further, but I don’t think the NFL really minds, in fact I think that is the overall goal.
Further observations of the numbers show the perpetual story of defensive backs being concussed most often. As of this report the DB’s make up 26% of all concussions (41), the next closes it tight ends at 14% (22). In fact, running backs (17), wide receivers (21), offensive lineman (21), linebackers (16) and TE’s are somewhat equal. Even the defensive lineman are close to that grouping with 13. Making all positions on the field outside of quarterbacks, DB’s and P/K somewhat equal in terms of the injury.
While we would like to see as few as possible, if concussions were equal across all positions (outside of QB, P/K) it would show that the injury is becoming a random incident. Which is really the best case possible. However, its not and the DB’s continue to be the most at risk players on the field, yet they also have some of the most restrictive tackling rules in place.
Now let us look at the Week 16 report (previous weeks numbers):
- 13 concussions/head injuries found from Week 16 (13)
- 159 regular season concussions noted (146)
- 213 total concussions in 2013 (200)
- 9.93 Concussions/week (9.73)
- 169 Projected Concussions (165)
- 0.66 Concussions/game (.65)
- 11.48% InR (11.24)
- 9.96% EInR (9.76)
Running Totals for Regular Season:
- 88 Offensive (80) – 70 Defense (65)
- Positionally Speaking
- QB – 7 (7), RB – 17 (15), TE – 22 (20), WR – 21 (19), OL – 21 (19), DL – 13 (11), LB – 16 (15), DB – 41 (39), P/K – 1 (1)
- Team Breakdown
- JAX – 11
- CIN – 10
- OAK – 9
- CLE, MIN – 8
- NYJ – 7
- GB, NE, PIT, SD, SEA, STL, WAS – 6
- DEN, DET, TB, TEN – 5
- BAL, KC, NO, NYG, PHI, SF – 4
- ATL, HOU, IND, MIA – 3
- ARI, CAR, DAL – 2
- BUF, CHI – 1
- none – 0
Our definition of Incidence Rate (InR) is projected concussions/46 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 16: # (2012, 2011, 2010):
- Regular Season Concussions – 159 (178, 162, 153)
The Concussion Blog 
I haven’t read all of your blog. I just found it today. But I think it is also safe to assume that there are concussions that don’t result in a player leaving the game or even reported as a concussion. There was a play in the Rose Bowl where one of Stanford’s receiver’s dove for a ball and missed, but landed face first on the turf. He lay still for about 5 seconds then got up and shook his head three or four times to “clean out the cobwebs” and went back to the huddle. Clearly he suffered some sort of head injury, but after the game I could find no report of a concussion.
You are very correct! Thanks for stopping by the blog!