The NFL’s rate of noncontact lower-extremity injuries was nearly the same on synthetic and natural turf in 2023, league officials told ESPN, the second time in three years those trend lines have essentially intersected.

The data, collected via a joint NFL/NFL Players Association committee, helps inform the ongoing debate over the safety of playing surfaces at the NFL’s 30 stadiums.

Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president for communications, public affairs and policy, said the similar rates point to a “need to look at all surfaces” for ways to improve. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell last fall called on all teams to convert to grass fields after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon on MetLife Stadium’s synthetic turf. In a statement released to ESPN this week, the union said the numbers were close in 2023 only because injuries on grass fields increased.

“As we have said repeatedly,” the statement read, “injury data in a one-year time capsule does not account for what we have known since we started tracking these injuries: that a well-maintained, consistent grass surface is still simply safer for players than any synthetic field. The story of last year’s injury data is that, unfortunately, injury rates on grass have increased from last year.

“The data cannot, however, account for what players have shared with the NFL for years: that we feel much worse after playing on synthetic surfaces and overwhelmingly prefer consistent, high-quality grass fields.

“This year’s injury data also does not explain how quick they are to flip NFL stadium surfaces from bad synthetic to better grass for international soccer friendlies and tournaments.”

The NFL/NFLPA committee defines injuries that could be attributed to the playing surface as those that occur in the lower extremities, without contact from another player, and are serious enough to force missed games. They represent about one-third of all NFL injuries and about half of all lower-extremity injuries, according to Dr. Mackenzie Herzog, an epidemiologist at IQVIA and an adviser to the NFL and NFLPA.

In 2023, the incidence rate (per 100 plays) for such injuries was 0.001 higher on synthetic turf (0.043) compared with natural (0.042). That represented a total of six to eight injuries over the course of the 17-week season, Herzog said, making the rates “virtually identical.” There was a similar difference between the rates in 2021.

In 2022, the rate for synthetic turf was 0.048 and the rate for natural was 0.035.

“Sometimes the line for synthetic injuries goes up, and sometimes it goes down,” the NFL’s Miller said, “and the same for the natural turf line. We need to have a better appreciation for why that could be over time so that both lines are heading in the same direction, and both of them are going down.”

After the uproar over Rodgers’ injury, 10 other NFL players suffered Achilles tears during regular-season games. There were another 12 during preseason games and practices, and the total of 23 was in line with previous seasons. According to NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s number of Achilles injuries has been between 20 and 22 since the league moved to a 17-game regular season.

“We did not see an epidemic of Achilles injuries this year,” Sills said.

Several teams replaced a type of synthetic turf called “slit film” after the 2022 season, noting that it had produced higher injury rates than other forms of turf and grass. Two others will do so after the 2023 season, leaving Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium as the only facility without plans to replace slit-film turf before the 2024 season.

Despite the data, and as the NFLPA said in its statement, many players say they feel less sore after games on grass than they do after playing on turf. Sills and Miller said this week that the NFL/NFLPA committee has several research initiatives underway to address surface conditions, including the possibility of growing grass for indoor stadiums.

“We think that’s important work,” Sills said. “It has not been done to the level that we think would withstand the kind of forces that NFL players put on those fields right now, but that is a very active research stream as well.

In the meantime, the committee is researching the impact of establishing a consistent set of turf management and style protocols to reduce the adjustments players must make from stadium to stadium.

“We think that’s going to be an important driver in the reduction of injuries,” Sills said.

Independent of the playing surface, the NFL experienced an unquestioned decrease in serious injuries during the 2023 season, Miller said. Missed games due to all injuries were down by about 700 from 2022, largely because of a drop in lower-extremity injuries.

The NFL believes its intervention efforts — working with team medical and coaching staffs in the early weeks of spring training on ways to manage the “ramp-up” period and reduce training camp lower-extremity injuries — are paying off.

The NFL’s numbers show a 29% reduction in lower-extremity injuries during training camp and a 50% reduction in recurrence of those injuries throughout the year. Herzog said the number of regular-season games missed due to lower-extremity strains — which represent the league’s No. 1 injury burden — was down 24% from the previous two years.

“We’ve really focused on that — made it an offseason priority to talk with coaches, strength coaches, performance directors about trends and observations, particularly on how we bring players back,” Sills said. “We’ve seen the first two weeks of training camp really provide an opportunity to reduce strains.”

The NFL also said ACL injuries were down in 2023. It registered 52 ACL injuries across the preseason and regular-season games and practices, which the league said is down 24% from the average of the previous two seasons.

Meanwhile, concussion numbers were relatively stable. The NFL had 219 concussions across the preseason and regular-season games and practices, up from 213 in 2022.

The NFL did accomplish its goal of reducing concussions on kickoffs, with the number dropping from 20 in 2022 to eight in 2023, but Miller said that’s a direct result of fewer kicks being returned because of a rule change that spotted fair catches at the 25-yard line. The concussion rate on returned kickoffs, Sills said, remained the same as in previous years.

Miller said the competition committee plans to examine the kickoff again this offseason with the goal of keeping the play in the game but making it safer. He said the committee has studied the XFL rule and will continue to look for ways to alter the play to make it safer without making it go away.

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As fans and pundits reflect fondly on Jurgen Klopp’s transformative eight-year spell as Liverpool manager, work begins on finding a replacement who can keep the good times rolling at Anfield.

Here are five candidates with the strongest claims to one of the most desirable vacancies in world football:

Xabi Alonso

This one’s a slam dunk. Alonso is a former Liverpool player and fan favorite who’s establishing himself as one of the game’s most exciting managers at Bayer Leverkusen. He commands a similar brand of heavy-metal football in the Bundesliga, with an emphasis on lightning-quick counterattacks, and as a 42-year-old at the beginning of his managerial career, he has the energy to carry on what Klopp can’t.

Alonso understands what it means to play for Liverpool and handle big nights at Anfield. There’s still an attachment to the club – his biggest regret is not winning the Premier League as a Liverpool player – but a return wouldn’t be a premature or desperate maneuver. It wouldn’t feel like it did when Manchester United hired Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or when Chelsea appointed, and then reappointed, Frank Lampard. Those were purely emotional decisions seemingly preordained by their previous affiliations with their clubs.

Alonso would be a good fit even without his history at Liverpool. He has Leverkusen competing for their first Bundesliga title since 2011 and playing some of the most irresistible football in Europe. “He is an example of a new generation of coaching,” Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka said recently.

Roberto De Zerbi

Every time there’s an opening at a top European club, De Zerbi invariably ends up on the list of potential candidates. He’s shown in such a short time at Brighton & Hove Albion how quickly he can transform a group of players and get them to execute his vision of attacking football.

But the links to Liverpool are credible. De Zerbi has already coached one of the fulcrums of Liverpool’s midfield, Alexis Mac Allister, and his coaching philosophy is similar to Klopp’s. De Zerbi’s Brighton press as a unit and counter-press when they lose possession, and they have the patience to play from back to front. Despite their abundance of talent, Liverpool operate similarly, moving as an organism rather than individual parts.

The only question about De Zerbi is whether he can provide consistent results. As exciting as his reign on the south coast has been, Brighton can be unpredictable, winning by multiple goals or losing by five. The Seagulls haven’t won more than three consecutive games with De Zerbi in the dugout, and that’s a concern. If he were to get the job on Merseyside, he may have to compromise his risky style of play to establish firmer footing.

Unai Emery

A short time ago, Emery would’ve been a Hail Mary for any club looking for a manager. He left Arsenal with his reputation in tatters and with nothing but memes as his legacy. But he rebuilt his career at Villarreal, winning the Europa League in 2021 before leading the club on a Cinderella run in the Champions League. He leveraged his success there into a move to Aston Villa.

In just a year and a half, Emery has taken Villa from 14th place to the upper echelons of the Premier League, doing so with many of the players he inherited. Though he focuses more on the defensive aspect of the game, Emery’s teams thrive on energy, just as Liverpool have under Klopp. Villa play with a high line and rely heavily on wide players to do work on and off the ball. Emery would find a similar group of hard workers at Liverpool and could even find a way to use the 4-4-2 formation that has brought him so much success.

But would Liverpool hire him to be a coach or architect? One of the reasons his spell at Arsenal ended badly was because he neglected to do the kind of diplomatic work Arsene Wenger had before his departure in 2018. Emery walked into a club that needed a spokesperson as much as it needed a coach. All he wanted to do was focus on the weekend’s tactical matchup. Liverpool have a hierarchy in place that can delegate that specific task to him, but they’re still a massive club with the same politics at play. Whether he’s ready for that is unclear.

Thomas Tuchel

Everywhere Klopp goes, Tuchel seems to follow. Tuchel replaced Klopp at Mainz in 2009 before stepping into his forerunner’s shoes at Dortmund in 2015. While he’s forged his own path since then, making stops at Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich, he remains Klopp’s closest body double.

But it may prove difficult to attract him to Liverpool. Though his Bayern side has disappointed at times, he wields a lot of power and has one of the most prolific strikers in the game at his disposal in Harry Kane. Tuchel hasn’t always had the best time dealing with boards and executives – high-level disputes led to his departures from Dortmund and PSG – and he could find himself arguing with the various committees and owners at Liverpool. Bayern have given him a significant say in transfers, and he’d have to give that up.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the 50-year-old won’t ever coach Liverpool. It’s a job that could make sense for him a few years down the line. He’ll continue to get offers from Premier League clubs, and given the way Chelsea unceremoniously axed him, he likely feels he has unfinished business in England.

Antonio Conte

Though Conte is the most unlikely of the quintet to land the gig, he remains an intriguing option for Fenway Sports Group to consider. The Italian is the only one on this list who’s free of contractual obligations, and he has a plethora of experience at top European clubs. If Liverpool want to establish domestic supremacy, Conte, who’s won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea, and Inter Milan, is perhaps the best positioned to deliver that.

However, like Tuchel, Conte is a difficult manager to please. He wants the players he wants and prefers water carriers and soldiers over up-and-coming talent. Conte’s style of play is also not the prettiest, and it would be easy to envision a revolt in the stands if the ends failed to justify the means. Despite his experience, he’d be a hard sell for supporters who’ve become accustomed to a certain way of playing.

But he’s a winner. That’s what counts. He’s one of just three managers to have snatched a league title ahead of a side managed by Pep Guardiola. With Guardiola’s Manchester City vying for a fourth straight Premier League title and sixth in seven years, that’s important intel to have. He can forge incredible relationships with players and create the kind of togetherness Klopp has established during his eight years in charge. Conte is emotional, and so are Liverpool. He can charge up the crowd like Klopp can, and that’s worth something.

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Norwegian side Brann qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League after their 1-0 win at Slavia Prague on Thursday.

Benfica could only draw at Rosengard but Eintracht Frankfurt’s defeat by Barcelona later in the evening allowed them also to join Chelsea, Lyon and holders Barcelona in the last eight.

Brann made it through thanks to a second half own goal from Slavia goalkeeper Olivie Lukasova who could only parry a fierce drive from Signe Gaupset into her own net.

“It is incredible. I do not think it has sunk in yet,” said Brann captain Cecilie Kvamme.

“We’ve had quite a journey in the past 12 months and I am just so proud of all the girls for the way we’ve played in the Champions League.

“We are really excited to qualify for the quarter-finals.”

Brann are second in Group B behind Lyon who hammered St Polten 7-0 in Austria with Ada Hegerberg and Sara Dabritz both scoring twice.

Vanessa Gilles, Dzsenifer Marozsan and substitute Kadidiatou Diani also found the back of the net.

Lyon will take top spot in the group whatever their result against Slavia Prague in the final round of games next week due to their superior head-to-head record against Brann.

Benfica also qualified for the last eight but were made to wait after a late goal from Rosengard’s Japanese striker Mai Kadowaki denied them outright victory in Sweden.

Olivia Schough put the Swedes ahead early on, but goals from Jessica Silva and Marie-Yasmine Alidou appeared to have given Benfica the win they needed to stamp their ticket alongside Barcelona in Group A.

Kadowaki’s late goal, however, meant it finished 2-2, leaving Benfica needing the Catalans to beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the later game.

Barcelona duly delivered against some gutsy German pressing.

Patricia Guijarro netted the opener after 19 minutes and Norwegian winger Caroline Graham Hansen sealed the 2-0 win after 73 minutes, finding some space on the edge of the area before firing the ball into the net.

Three places remain to be settled in the final round of group matches next week.

DETROIT — There are two numbers Detroiters will never forget: 0 and 16.

They represent the Detroit Lions’ 2008 season — the one in which they became the first team in NFL history to play a 16-game schedule without winning a game (though the 2017 Cleveland Browns eventually joined them).

The team set a record for most losses in a season, while allowing the third-most points, the fourth-most touchdowns and the second-most rushing touchdowns in league history. Those Lions were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 11, which was tied for the earliest a team’s postseason hopes had been dashed since 1990.

Five different quarterbacks threw at least one pass for Detroit — Dan Orlovsky, Jon Kitna, Daunte Culpepper, Drew Stanton and Drew Henson — with one of them making the most emblematic play of that miserable season.

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Kitna: To me, it seems like there’s vertical alignment. From ownership, straight on down your roster, your coaching staff, the people that work in the building. It just feels like there’s complete alignment there.

Johnson: A lot of it has to do with what [Lions general manager] Brad Holmes and Dan are bringing to the team. We’ve seen Brad build a Super Bowl-caliber team coming from out west, from [the Los Angeles Rams], and we know what Dan does as a player-coach. All we want is a player-coach because he gets us. He understands the struggle. So when you have somebody that understands the struggle, but at the same time, understands where Detroit has been and understands the grit that represents Detroit, that is nothing but his authentic self. He is Detroit.

Furrey: It always felt like everything was against you back then, and now it just feels like, watching the game, it feels like everything is starting to fit the right way and go the Lions’ way. Ever since the hypothetical Bobby Layne Curse, it feels like it’s gone the opposite direction.

What does this season mean for Lions fans?

Kitna: It’s everything. We know what sports does. Sports is a unifying thing. And when cities and communities and organizations get to experience some of the things that Detroit is experiencing now, coming off the heels of what happened right down the road in Ann Arbor [with the Michigan football team winning the national championship], it’s amazing.”

Johnson: This is almost up there with religion. This thing is bringing folks to tears. You’ve got folks crying out here. And I get it. It warmed my heart to see them dudes do it just because, even though we weren’t able to do it, we still bleed blue.

Henson: This is for the people in Michigan, this is for the fans of generations. They’ve been waiting on this and there’s no better sports town in the country, if you can get on the right side of things, and I think everybody’s seeing it. … I don’t think you can help but pull for the Lions because it stands for all the good in sports.

Furrey: Even back in the day in 2008, when we didn’t win any games, [the fans] didn’t quit. That town is legit. That town is full of a fan base that is real and deserving and I just couldn’t be more happy for everybody that’s been waiting for this to happen, and it’s been fun to watch.

What do you most like about the 2023 Lions?

Jim Colletto, Lions offensive coordinator: They play so hard. They’ve got a great quarterback. And defensively, they play with great intensity and effort and their offense functions well. They run the ball well and you can see that the attitude of the head coach that’s watching them on the sideline is [injected] into the team.

Furrey: You see a team. You see a bunch of guys that are unselfish. They’re working their rear ends off. They have a high passion for playing the game. They execute at a high level. They make huge plays in big moments, on both sides of the ball, and they play with that grit that I know that came from one person and Danny has instilled that.

Marinelli: They fight. I think they play like Dan played. They are tough. On defense they fly around. They have a good attitude, hustle, well-coached, all of those things. On offense, they run the ball with toughness, and he’s got the QB [

Johnson: What I like most about this squad is that, yeah, you have a couple stars on this team, but I feel like honestly we might have had more stars back on the team when I played, but you have some guys who have been around the league and you have some solid veterans. And what excites me most is that you’re starting to see some of these players that people might not have known about, start to emerge and make plays.

Is this the greatest Lions team of the Super Bowl era?

Johnson: There were stars on some of the other teams, like Barry [Sanders], and we had stars on our teams with Matthew [Stafford], myself and you can keep going on and on, but as far as just a team, what we’re seeing, the energy that we feel … Hey, I’ll tell you this, the conversations that I be having with all the guys that come back and that I played with, we just be thinking about, “Dog, if we were on this team, you know how good we would be?” Yeah, we had some talent, but it’s like with this coach, with this staff, with that culture.

Kitna: They’ve got a chance to do something that nobody’s ever done. So, yeah.

Furrey: That would be hard to debate trying to put somebody else in that picture with what they’ve put together with that whole offensive line and that defensive line. That front, those linebackers, the duo that they have in the backfield right now with