Bullet-point takeaways from analysis of Observer’s NFL injuries database

The Observer built a database to analyze the prevalence of concussions in the NFL using data from teams’ final weekly injury reports, official NFL box scores and pro-football-reference.com.

Some findings from that analysis:

▪  Concussions caused more players (84) to be declared out during the regular season than any other injury, according to teams’ final weekly injury reports. Ankle (81) and knee injuries (80) were the next most prevalent reasons.

▪  The Carolina Panthers tied for the most players forced out with a concussion (seven) and the most total games missed because of a concussion (22). This includes players on the injured reserve list and players ruled questionable and doubtful but not activated. That number does not include the three games Pro Bowl middle linebacker Luke Kuechly was held out of at the end of the season despite being cleared from the protocol.

▪  Indianapolis and Washington matched Carolina with seven players missing at least one game. Washington tied Carolina with 22 games missed.

▪  Six players missed 10 or more regular-season games because of a concussion. Of the 93 who missed games, 46 missed a single game.

▪  Nine teams – including the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots – had just one player miss a game because of a concussion.

▪  The Oakland Raiders did not have any players sidelined by concussion during the regular season, and the Atlanta Falcons, who will meet the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, had three.

▪  The Panthers’ Cam Newton was one of four quarterbacks to miss a game because of a concussion. Newton – injured in a Week 4 loss at Atlanta when he took a big hit after slowing down near the goal line – was joined by the Colts’ Andrew Luck, Arizona’s Carson Palmer and Cleveland’s Cody Kessler.

▪  Kessler, held out Weeks 8 and 12, was among a handful of players who suffered multiple head injuries. San Diego Chargers cornerback Brandon Flowers sustained two concussions, the second of which landed him on injured reserve.

▪  Panthers left tackle Michael Oher (13 games), Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields (15 games), Miami Dolphins tight end Jordan Cameron (14 games) and New Orleans Saints cornerback P.J. Williams (14 games) missed the most games because of a concussion.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Bullet-point takeaways from analysis of Observer’s NFL injuries database."