Our 3rd Annual Love Letter to the Players
We wanted drama. We wanted different. We got it.
To the 1,696 players of the 32 NFL teams, thank you.
Thank you for the drama, the nail-biting, hair-pulling, unbelievable, in the end zone finishes.
Thank you for giving us a finale with two teams that haven’t been to the Big Game since before Covid.
Thank you for giving us comeback after comeback this year, and now setting us up with a rematch of XLIX – with the result of either the winningest franchise in the league for one team, or a glorious second Lombardi trophy to keep their first company for the other.
Back in September, the odds were 60-1 for the Seahawks and 80-1 for the Pats. And here we are, extreme continental US east vs. extreme continental US west for the biggest game of the year.
We love it.
We make a concussion test. So yes, we care about the number of concussions occurring every year. A lot.
Each year the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Allen Sills, puts out an annual injury report, showing concussions every season. The trend has shown decreasing numbers year over year in the NFL. We are anxiously awaiting the 2025 season data with bated breath and hoping the trend continues to go down.
One of the reasons for the decrease in head injuries are the changes to the kickoff rules introduced in 2023, which resulted in reduced injuries during this play. The league modified the rule in 2024 to a dynamic kickoff in which the kicking team’s players must stay in place until the ball is caught or touches the ground, with a touchback resulting in the ball at the 25-yard-line. This year the NFL amended the kickoff procedures again by moving the ball out 10 additional yards to the 35-yard-line after a touchback to discourage kicking teams from simply kicking the ball to the end zone. It will be interesting to see if this has had an adverse impact on the number of concussions.
Two protective measures, the Q-collar and Guardian Caps, were introduced to the league in 2017 and 2022 respectively. Q-collar was shown this year in particular to have questionable science behind it. Last year after the Super Bowl, Guardian Caps demonstrated no benefit in one study of high school players. Guardian Caps are credited with a reduction in concussions at the NFL level but this may be due to rule changes, such as the one previously mentioned.
So, we still have some work to do on the preventive side – with both rules and equipment.
We love this game, and the players. They are why we do what we do, which is to make the best concussion test we possibly can, backed by science. We’ve been at this for over a decade. This year watch us closely. We’ve already got a great concussion test, and we’re going to give the world something better.
To the players.
To the players, we wish you grace, we wish you luck, but most of all we wish you a safe and healthy game.