ARLINGTON, Texas – One minute, they were flat-blasting the Dallas Cowboys all over the turf at Jerry World. They were winning in the trenches, on the edges, and up the gut.
It was, as they say in Texas, a good ole-fashioned butt-whupping.
The next moment, the Detroit Lions were taking a knee in a show of respect.
The 47-9 rout at AT&T Stadium on Sunday was interrupted for more than 10 minutes in the third quarter by a football reality check as Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit’s spectacular defensive end, lay in misery. Hutchinson came into the game as the NFL leader with 6 ½ sacks. He left on a cart with his left leg in an air cast.
Hutchinson suffered a fractured tibia and fibula and underwent surgery. It is believed that the break occurred in his lower leg.
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“It was tough,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Obviously, he’s going to be down for a while.”
The “heartbeat of this team” is what running back David Montgomery called Hutchinson. That certainly speaks to his grit, skill, passion and leadership.
Yet Hutchinson, a third-year vet, also serves as a reminder of how fortunes on a football field can change in a heartbeat. Any given play can be the last play of a game, season or even a career. Football is tough like that, which every participant nonetheless signs up for.
The sport has a way of doling out perspective, too. The Lions (4-1) won and to some degree lost, too. While Campbell called the 38-point victory the most complete game of his tenure – the Lions racked up 492 yards, never punted, forced five turnovers and didn’t give up a touchdown – his team suddenly had to process the loss of arguably its best player.
This had to come quickly. But it’s part of football. One minute, as doctors and athletic trainers treated Hutchinson, concern was evident with the hush that fell over a crowd of 93,644 that roared for much of the afternoon. Players from both teams took to one knee. Campbell rushed to the scene where Hutchinson lie. The entire Lions bench emptied, joining teammates gathered near Hutchinson. When the cart drove out to midfield, it was obvious that he wouldn’t walk away, even with assistance.
“Those are hard moments,” said Campbell, who played 11 seasons in the NFL as a tight end. “It’s hard for everybody. When you’re standing there and that’s one of yours when something like that happens…Our guys have done a good job, our coaches, in just getting them refocused.”
Refocus. That may seem a bit cruel. A comrade is carted off, and now you’re tasked to strap it right back up for football as usual, with violent collisions and tug-of-war skirmishes over a blade of grass.
Yet it’s not cruel. As the Lions reminded us, the ability to check the emotions prompted by Hutchinson’s setback and then focus on the heat of the moment is a matter of survival. It comes with the duty of being a pro, albeit with an undeniable human element.
No, they are not robots.
“It’s tough,” Lions defensive tackle DJ Reader said. “Especially for someone who’s been there before. Not necessarily that injury, but you’ve been on your back with your eyes looking at the ceiling. You kind of get emotional, because you know what it takes. You don’t know what kind of fight you’re in for.
“But I know as team, (shoot), it’s been our whole lives. Like we can go out to practice and people get injured. In games, it happens. So, it’s one of those things you can click back in. I think there’s a time to be human during the game. So, we understand how to be human, then process it and get back to what we need to do.”
Campbell knows. It was essential for the Lions to stay aggressive after Hutchinson was carted away. That’s cold, hard football mentality.
“You dwell on that too much, you start to get a little timid, and that’s when you get hurt,” Campbell said. “So, our guys snapped right back in.”
Now they’ll be challenged to process the long-term loss of Hutchinson. After advancing to the NFC title game last season, Detroit is certainly equipped to make another legitimate run at the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth. The mission undoubtedly just became much tougher, but it’s not impossible.
“It’s an unfortunate loss for us, a big, big blow for us,” said Montgomery, who rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. “It’s more personal for us now.”
Added Reader, “You don’t really replace a player like that. You just hope other guys step up.”
It was notable that Hutchinson was injured while making a big play as he sacked Dak Prescott for a 6-yard loss. It wasn’t a particularly violent play that took him out. It appeared that his leg collided with that of linemate Alim McNeill as Hutchinson pulled Prescott down with him as he fell awkwardly to the turf.
Incidentally, Prescott suffered a similar injury in 2020, with a compound fracture to his right ankle.
“Obviously, that’s tough to watch,” Prescott said, “having experienced it, knowing where he is in that moment. Hated it. Hated every bit of it.”
Prescott made it a point to share some encouraging words before Hutchinson was carted away.
“I just told him to keep his head up,” Prescott said.
Thinking back to the moments after he suffered his own injury, Prescott isn’t even sure that Hutchinson heard him.
“When you’re in that, it’s blurry,” Prescott said.
He will get Hutchinson’s phone number from one of the Michigan guys on the Cowboys and reach out again with more encouragement in due time. Prescott hasn’t forgotten how one particular book he received, ‘Relentless,’ helped with his mindset during his recovery. So, he plans to do likewise with Hutchinson and will maybe share the book.
Prescott expects Hutchinson will rebound, with the injury setback providing another chapter to his journey.
“The guy he seems to be, not knowing him, he’ll be better after it,” Prescott predicted. “I know it’s probably hard to imagine right now. I just told him, it’s part of his story.
“Hell of a player,” he added. “I mean, he did it going out on a sack. So, game-changer.”
For the Lions about now, that surely cuts more than one way.
(This story was updated with new information.)
