Doug Flutie escaped from the bottom of this pile. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

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BEN LEBER, Chargers Linebacker

"I don't know if people really want to know what goes on down there: Basically anything you can't get away with on the field, you can get away with under that pile. Nobody can see you. The go-to spots are the eyes and the family jewels. If anybody grabs your family jewels, you are going to let go. In the pile you hear some screams of pain, but you don't know where it is coming from -- unless it's you."

STEVE GLEASON, Saints Safety

"We were playing Tampa Bay last year, and I just about lost my manhood trying to recover a fumble on a punt. I was shocked. I had the ball in my hand, and someone was reaching from behind me -- between my legs. I recovered the fumble, but when I got in the shower after the game, I literally had claw marks all over my inner thighs."

BRENTSON BUCKNER, Panthers DT

"See where somebody bit me right there [points to a scar on his right wrist]. This was my second year, against Cleveland, when I was trying to scoop the ball out of a pile. I don't know who bit me, but after the game I had to get a little [tetanus] shot. That was cool, though. The worst for me is that I can get claustrophobic. You're under there, and it's like everything closes in. I get scared sometimes because your head is stuck in the dirt, and it's like you can't breathe."

JASON FERGUSON, Jets Nosetackle

"My rookie year, me and [then teammate] linebacker Pepper Johnson were on the bottom. I heard Pepper yelling, 'Get the ball!' and I remembered something he told me: 'You've always got to grab a finger in a pile.' Well, he grabbed somebody's finger in that pile, and sure enough he came out with the ball. Just like proving an old rule."

KEYDRICK VINCENT, Steelers Guard

"The defensive linemen grab at your nuts, people try to poke your eyes out. If you're on the bottom, close in and tuck, do the fetal position. It's real ugly down there. But no spitting. Think about it -- you might spit on yourself."

Issue date: January 31, 2005