The NFL today reported a drop in player concussions, as well as ACL and MCL tears, during the '16 season. “What we are doing is continuing to make a difference,” Robert Heyer, NFL Physicians Society President and Panthers team doctor, told reports on a conference call this morning. 49ers co-Chair Dr. John York, who chairs the NFL's Health & Safety Committee, added the league had been concerned about high number of concussions during preseason practices and had worked with the clubs and brought that figure down. In the last two years, reported preseason practice concussions are down 38% to 26 in '16. The number of concussion overall in '16 -- including regular-season games, preseason games and practices -- fell 11.3% to 244. Tears to players' ACLs fell 5% to 56, while MCL tears fell 16% to 140. Christina Mack, the Dir of Epidemiology & Outcomes Research for NFL in-game injury data analysis firm Quintiles, said she is confident the league is capturing all the injuries. She pointed out that two-thirds of players pulled out of games by athletic trainer spotters last year did not have concussions, underscoring her contention the league is being conservative. The research also showed injury rates were lower for Thursday night games than other games.
THURSDAY NO DIFFERENT THAN SATURDAY: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday on Fox Sports Radio's "The Herd" discussed the perceived notion that more injuries occur during "TNF" games than other games, and he said, "There has not been any – any! -- indication, facts or anything else that would indicate the level of injuries are up on Thursday night." Goodell: "Playing a game like football, you’re going to be sore the next morning. We always take that into consideration, and that’s one of the reason we walked very slowly into this as we built ‘Thursday Night Football.’”
