Reggie Bush Is The Latest Victim Of The Rams' Concrete Ring Of Death

The 49ers believe Reggie Bush’s injury, suffered yesterday against the Rams, is a torn ACL, a season-ender. It’s a particularly frustrating one for Bush, who’s had trouble staying healthy throughout his career, because it had basically nothing to do with football. Bush was just the latest victim of a dangerous-as-hell feature unique to St. Louis.

Bush was returning a punt in the first quarter when he was pushed out of bounds and unable to stop before hitting the concrete that rings the turf. Bush slipped, went down, and apparently tore his ligament.

Just last week, it was Browns quarterback Josh McCown who found himself unable to stop on the concrete, which is most definitely not compatible with cleats. McCown injured his shoulder on this play:

So, the concrete’s existence is pretty inexplicable. Reggie Bush didn’t blame it, though we sure as hell can:

“I’m not angry that it happened,” Bush said when asked about the concrete surface. “… Everybody else has played on it.

The Edward Jones Dome is far from the only multipurpose stadium in the NFL, but it’s the only one with such an obvious, correctable safety hazard (why can’t they extend the turf to the wall? [Update: Other stadiums have concrete strips behind the end zones, but they’re generally thinner and not along the sidelines.]). Owner Stan Kroenke has no incentive to make any changes—if he has his way the Rams will be playing in Los Angeles next year—but this is exactly the sort of thing the NFLPA should be making noise about.