The NFL claims that the rate of concussions among players fell by 25 percent this season.

Data provided to The Associated Press by the NFL ahead of its annual pre-Super Bowl health and safety news conference Thursday shows there were 111 concussions in games during the 2014 regular season, down from 148 in 2013, and 173 in 2012, a 36 percent drop over that three-year span.

"Players are changing the way they're tackling," NFL Senior Vice President of Health and Safety Policy Jeff Miller said. "They're changing the way they play the game."

A total of 59 concussions were caused by helmet-to-helmet or shoulder-to-helmet hits this season, the league's data says, almost exactly half as many as two years ago.

"With all the technological innovations that we've had over the past few years, I'm surprised the numbers keep going down," St. Louis Rams team doctor Matthew Matava said. "Because you'd think, with more vigilance, you'd see more of any sort of condition."