After a gruesome injury during the third quarter of the Lions’ clowning of the Dallas Cowboys Sunday afternoon, star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair a broken tibia and fibula and will return to Detroit later this week according to the team.
The full statement from the Lions posted on social media read, “Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured tibia and fibula at Baylor White Medical Center in Irving, Texas last night. Hutchinson will return to Detroit this week and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timeline for his return to play at this time.”
Despite the unknown timetable, a source, however, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Hutchinson’s season is over given the extent of his injury typically carries a 6- to 8-month injury recovery timeline. It was also noted that a rod was placed in Hutchinson’s leg during the surgery, the source said.
The injury itself happened when Hutchinson was completing his league-leading 7.5th sack, taking down Dak Prescott as the Lions dominated the Cowboys on both sides of the ball. However, as Hutchinson was falling to the ground his leg seemingly snapped above the ankle when it slammed against teammate Alim McNeill.
McNeill said the injury was “frightening to see” adding that he was unaware of the severity of the injury until after the play.
“That’s what I felt, but I haven’t seen it myself so I couldn’t really tell,” McNeill said after the game. “I didn’t know if that was him or not, but I did feel somebody like leg with me and then I saw Hutch down … that’s crazy. “
Lions head coach Dan Campbell also commented saying “Hate it for Hutch. That’s tough. It was tough. He’s in good hands right now. He’s being taken care of. He’ll stay back here and obviously he’s going to be down for a little while. So, that’s tough and it’s hard when you lose somebody like him, but we’ll know a lot more after this and obviously wish him the best.”
