Pre-season concussions head list

INDIANAPOLIS — One of the chief points of emphasis in 2018 for the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee is to reduce the number of concussions suffered by players during the preseason.

That intention was underscored during the first 30 minutes of the committee’s meeting Wednesday at the Indiana Convention Centre. Four news organizations were permitted to observe this portion of the meeting, including Postmedia.

While concussion diagnoses among NFL players rose 15% overall in 2017, from 243 to 281, the rise was more pronounced during the preseason: up 28%, with 91 concussions suffered in practices and games, compared to 71 in 2016.

The 281 concussion total last season (excluding playoffs) is the highest in the NFL since 2012, when the league first began releasing such data.

“That is a disappointment, because we’re obviously in the business of trying to see that number go down,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer at the outset of chairing Wednesday’s meeting. “I know that one of the things that people would say (to that) is, well, aren’t we doing more screenings? Aren’t we just being more diligent about looking for these things? Aren’t we using better criteria? And I think all those things are probably fair, and probably true. But they’re not, to me, the end of this story.

“To me this is really a call to action to see what we can do to drive it down … We in the league are starting to think about this in a whole different way than we’ve done before.”

For instance, Sills said in his opening statement, “We’ve got some very compelling data that suggests if we can get players into better helmets, with better design, that are better performing, that that will help reduce concussion numbers.”

Sills said repeatedly that a particular emphasis in 2018 will be to examine ways to reduce the number of concussions suffered in the preseason.

Most of the 91 preseason concussions were suffered in training-camp practices, not games, the committee heard.

The committee will continue to share information and explore ideas and suggestions for improvements in March conference calls, Sills said.