Mindful of Violence, the N.F.L. Rules Out the Wedge Formation

Mindful of Violence, the N.F.L. Rules Out the Wedge Formation

Matt Bowen spent seven seasons in the N.F.L., some of the time as a wedge buster, the no-sane-person-need-apply job designed to break up one of football’s most iconic formations, the 900-pound snowplow of linemen, with their arms linked or hands joined, designed to block for a kick returner.
Bowen, now a writer for National Football Post, was on his way to a neurologist a few weeks ago, in part because of all the times he lowered his head and smashed into the wedge — sometimes not bothering to tell trainers about the blows he took. Most of Bowen’s injuries came when he played on the kick unit: an anterior cruciate ligament torn here, a foot broken there.

nytimes.com
5/23/09