Detroit Lions star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson was carted off the field with a broken tibia in the team’s 47-9 blowout victory against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Early in the third quarter, Hutchinson injured himself after sacking Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. As he went to wrap up the QB, his leg collided with a teammate’s leg and he immediately fell to the ground.
The third-year defensive end was eventually loaded onto a cart as players from both teams came to comfort him and fans at AT&T Stadium applauded.
The Lions would rule him out for the rest of the game with a lower leg injury.
After the game, Detroit head coach Dan Campbell gave an update on Hutchinson, confirming it was a broken tibia which required immediate surgery and calling it “tough.”
“He’s in good hands right now,” Campbell told reporters after the game. “He’s being taken care of. He’s staying back here and, obviously, he is going to be down for a little while, so that’s tough man. It’s hard when you lose somebody like him.”
Campbell added they will know more about the injury in the coming days and that he wishes him the “best.”
Hutchinson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, has 7.5 sacks through five games this season. In his 38 games in the league, he has 27.5 sacks.
Lions running back David Montgomery called Hutchinson’s injury an “unfortunate loss” for the team.
“A big, big, big blow for us and it’s just more personal for us now because of the kind of guy that Aidan is and the kind of character that he has and what he brings to the locker room and to this team,” Montgomery said, per ESPN. “So I know for me, personally, I’m going to take it real personal for a guy like Aidan because he was the heartbeat of this team, and he still will be.”
The Lions improved to 4-1 on the season with the blowout win, while the Cowboys fell to 3-3 on the year.
Detroit will travel to Minnesota to play Sam Darnold and the 5-0 Vikings next Sunday, while Dallas heads to San Francisco to take on the 3-3 49ers.