The NFL’s reported concussion totals are the highest they’ve been in four years, proving that there’s still a lot of work to be done.
NFL Communications passed along new injury data from the 2015 preseason and regular season. Of all the data, what stuck out the most is that concussion numbers are the highest they’ve been in recent years. As the league increasingly implemented more rule changes to help reduce the purported amount of concussions, this year has seen a dramatic spike.
The document shows a total of 271 reported concussions – a marked jump from the 204 last season. There was also an increase in helmet-to-helmet contact, up from 58 last season to 92 this year. Despite the NFL trying its best to eliminate concussions and reported cases of CTE found among players, this spike proves that there’s lots of work to be done.
It’s rather surprising that this season would see an increase in concussions despite the added attention on the subject. When commissioner Roger Goodell appeared on Sirius XM Radio, he commented on the changes the league has been trying to make to see the total number reduced:
“I think we’re at 39 rule changes over the last 10 years to make our game safer. They’ve had a dramatic impact on the game. We’ve seen reductions in concussions (by) 35 percent.”
In addition, the movie Concussion about the true story of Dr. Bennett Omalu has drawn attention towards the league’s concussion protocol. Yet still the total has increased. It’s possible that more hits are starting to be classified as concussions in an effort to take big hits that don’t get penalized out of the game. Though what was more telling was when the MMQB screened Concussion to former NFL players and one individual, Keith McCants, brought to light some disturbing facts:
“I watch this movie and I know we were paid to hurt people. We were paid to give concussions. If we knew that we were killing people, I would have never put on the jersey.”
There have certainly been high profile cases of head-to-head collisions this season: Odell Beckham hitting Josh Norman, and Vontaze Burfict hitting Antonio Brown come to mind – they received one and three-game suspensions respectively. While rule changes should, theoretically, decrease the number of concussions and big hits, they don’t take them out of the game altogether. The NFL needs to come down harder on players and tighten their disciplinary action if they want to take further steps towards eradicating this pressing issue all together.