Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva (78) checks on the injury of Pittsburgh Steelers offensive guard B.J. Finney (67) in the second quarter against the Cleveland Browns on December 31 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Penn. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI |
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The rate of injuries sustained by NFL players during Thursday night games exceeded the injury rate in other contests, the league revealed in its preliminary data for the 2017 preseason and regular season.
This season, there were 6.9 injuries per game on Thursday nights, according to the NFL's data released on Friday, compared to 6.3 per game in Saturday, Sunday and Monday contests. For an injury to qualify, it had to result in the player being removed from the game or being sidelined from football activities, the league said.
The injury rate during Thursday night games has long been a point of contention for some NFL players who have complained that the contests are unsafe due to competing on short rest.
It should be noted that 5.3 injuries per game were reported on Thursdays during the 2016 season, as opposed to 6.5 for the other days.
Dr. Christina Mack, an epidemiologist who works with the league on injury data, cautioned against putting too much stock in one season's result over years of research.
"This season, for the first time, we saw a one-year shift, where injury rates on Thursdays were slightly higher than games played on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday," Mack said, per Pro Football Talk. "The four-year aggregate rates are the strongest metrics due to the small number of games played on Thursdays and in general when we look at these rates, so the one-year sample size of the Thursday data is more variable. The difference was not statistically significant.
"That said, again coming up to the Combine, we are going to continue looking at and analyzing these data to understand what the impact of intervals between games and rest is with focus on Thursday night in a broader context."
