It was a scary scene early in Foxborough when Detroit Lions cornerback Saivion Smith suffered a neck injury and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance. Smith was in coverage and collapsed on the field after trying to jam a New England Patriots wide receiver. The Lions announced the 24-year-old is being taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Here's the play on which Smith got hurt:
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1579161181495111680
Article Continues BelowThis is really tough to see, and we just have to hope Smith is okay. Any neck injury is scary, but this was also especially unfortunate because it came during Smith's first start of his NFL career. The cornerback out of Alabama has bounced around the league to start his career, toiling on practice squads and training camp rosters. He finally got this big opportunity, only to get it cut short by this devastating injury. PFT says a member of Smith's family was in the stands and went down to the field and rode in the ambulance with him.
The Lions entered this Week 5 tilt against the Patriots with a 1-3 record, and now they're going to have to gather themselves and try to put forth a good performance after this injury. It's tough to bounce back after seeing a teammate go down like that, but Detroit will do its best to pull itself off the mat. It hasn't been a great effort so far, as the Lions are down 13-0 in the second quarter at the time of this writing.