Early in the first quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-20 victory over their AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football, star linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered a frightening back injury when he attempted to tackle Bengals rookie wide receiver Josh Malone in the open field.

A video showing a replay of the injury was posted to Twitter by Dion Caputi, as Shazier tackles Malone head-first and is unable to move his legs afterward.

The injury was very scary, to say the least, and it was reported that he would stay in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center overnight for further evaluation, but would not need surgery on his bruised spine, per team director of communications Burt Lauten.

Shazier's current teammates and former Steelers players immediately took to Twitter to send their prayers his way.

https://twitter.com/DOCnation_7/status/937921297463603201

Many other people in the NFL community, players both present and former, reached out to Shazier on Twitter as well and offered their prayers for his speedy recovery.

https://twitter.com/TheWorldof_AJ/status/937913272434491392

Shazier is considered the leader of the Steelers' defense and has registered a team-high 89 tackles, 11 pass deflections, and three interceptions in 12 games this season. More updates on Shazier's condition going forward will be given as soon as the information becomes available.