- A data artist has taken all 280 concussions from the 2017 NFL season and put them into one chilling video.
- By showing the hits in reverse and slowed down, the film gives its audience a new visual understanding for the violence that has long been a somewhat expected part of football.
- The artist behind the video, Josh Begley, says the film is not an argument for the end of football, but rather an effort at "defamiliarizing the familiar."
Scary video shows every concussion of the 2017 NFL season in one clip
There were 280 reported concussions in the NFL this season, and watching them back-to-back is an effective tool in recognizing the violence of the sport.
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In recent years, concussion awareness has become a bigger and bigger part of being a football fan as the longterm health effects of the game are better understood. As the public learns more about the effects of CTE and sometimes even sees former stars of the sport dying of suicide, the NFL has begun to approach concussions with a bit more caution.
Gone are segments like ESPN's "Jacked Up!" that would highlight the hardest hits of the day. Instead, the league now has a concussion protocol that is still less-than-perfect but undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
But even with increased awareness of concussions, fans can still become fairly desensitized to the repeated head trauma over the course of the season. With this in mind, Josh Begley of The Intercept put together a video that shows all 280 concussions of the 2017 NFL season in one clip, with the goal of "
Begley makes clear in his post that accompanies the film that he is not making an argument for the end of football, but rather hopes that his audience will garner a fresh recognition of the brutality of the moment.