The NFL is searching for a technology-driven game plan to help predict – and prevent – player injuries on the field.
The league announced Thursday it is partnering with Amazon Web Service on the NFL Contact Detection Challenge, a contest in which designers will use machine learning and computer vision to find new ways to measure and analyze the timing, duration and frequency of player contact during NFL games.
The NFL said in a release the data collected would improve the league’s ability to better anticipate injuries and help prevent them – and potentially lead to tweaks to rules – based on the information gathered.
“Quantifying the risk of injury that players face in every possible in-game scenario is a crucial step in understanding how we can reduce that risk, and ultimately prevent injuries” said Jennifer Langton, the NFL’s senior vice-president of health and safety innovation. “By engaging entrants with a wide range of expertise, this challenge will help us understand which game situations have elevated amounts of contact. This can inform rules changes to improve the game.”
The challenge, announced at the “AWS re:Invent” conference in Las Vegas, will begin Dec. 5 with entries submitted on a website hosted by Kaggle, a leading platform for data science competitions. The top finishers will be announced in March, with the first-place entry receiving US$50,000.
Bills put DE Von Miller on injured reserve
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. The Buffalo Bills placed defensive end Von Miller on injured reserve on Thursday. Miller was injured in the second quarter of Buffalo’s 28-25 win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. His knee bent awkwardly as Detroit centre Frank Ragnow stepped on Miller’s right ankle. Miller will miss at least four games, but Bills general manager Brandon Beane said the team is hoping that Miller can return for the final stretch of Buffalo’s season. The Bills signed Miller to a six-year contract in free agency. Miller is the NFL’s active leader in sacks with 123 1/2 and he leads the Bills with eight sacks.
Watson dodges non-football questions after NFL suspension
BEREA, Ohio Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson refused to address non-football questions on Thursday in his first comments since returning from an 11-game NFL suspension over sexual misconduct allegations. Speaking to the media for the first time since Aug. 18, Watson declined to discuss his suspension or the reasons behind it. He has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual harassment and assault during massage therapy sessions. The 27-year-old will play his first game for the Browns on Sunday in Houston, where he starred for four seasons with the Texans and where the alleged misconduct took place. Watson opened with a statement, saying he was advised by his legal and clinical teams to only address “football questions.” Watson agreed to the lengthy suspension, a US$5-million fine and to undergo professional counseling and therapy after an independent arbitrator ruled that he violated the league’s personal conduct policy. He wouldn’t say what he learned during his time away or if the counseling helped him.
Antonio Brown faces arrest warrant for domestic incident
TAMPA Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown is wanted on a battery charge stemming from a domestic incident, Tampa police said Thursday. Investigators said Brown, 34, and a woman were involved in a verbal altercation Monday afternoon at a home in Tampa. Brown threw a shoe at the victim, attempted to evict her from the home and locked her out, the report said. There is a court-issued warrant for Brown’s arrest. No additional details about Monday’s incident were immediately available. Brown’s contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was terminated a few days after he tossed his equipment into the stands and left in the middle of a Jan. 2 game. Brown had said he was pressured to play injured, but then-Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians said Brown was upset about not getting the ball enough. Brown has a long history of troubled behaviour on and off the field, including being accused by two women of sexual assault, one of whom said Brown raped her. In the 2021 season, he served a three-game suspension for misrepresenting his COVID-19 vaccination status. He was also suspended for eight games in 2020 for multiple violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, after pleading no contest to burglary and criminal mischief charges related to a fight with a moving truck driver outside his South Florida home that year.