Reported concussions in the NFL "have declined by 35% over a three-year period," according to Lorenzo Reyes of USA TODAY. The league’s '15 Health & Safety report, which was released yesterday, said that concussions in '14 regular-season games "dropped to 112 reported cases," down from 148 the previous year and 173 in '12. Additionally, concussions resulting from helmet-to-helmet hits "were down 43% to 52 reported cases after 72 occurred" in '13 and 91 in '12. In an effort to "gather increased data on the frequency of concussions," the NFL and NFLPA "sponsored a study in an independent laboratory that assessed the performance of the most popular helmets worn by players in games." More than 500 helmets "were tested with repeated impacts designed to replicate average hits sustained on an NFL field." The NFL "polled select franchises and determined that about 'one-third' of players were using helmets in the lowest-performing group." The league said that the helmet manufacturers "were 'fully engaged' in the process, and the NFL also shared the results of the study with the manufacturers." Jeff Crandall, who leads the NFL’s engineering subcommittee of the head, neck and spine committee, said, "Ultimately, (the manufacturers) are the ones that will take this information and figure out what they want to do with design" (USA TODAY, 8/6). Meanwhile, in St. Paul, John Shipley notes a movie about the NFL's history with head injuries "called 'Concussion,' starring Will Smith and scheduled for a Christmas release, already has ownership gearing for another round of PR and legal trouble" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/6).
