Jets’ Lorenzo Mauldin goes to hospital with head, neck injury

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. –Early in the fourth quarter, New York Jetsrookie linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin went down and was stretchered off the field with head and neck injuries.

In his first NFL game, Mauldin had just made an impact play, forcing a fumble then went down hard. As he looked to get up, he fell down again and laid motionless on the field. On the play, it looked like he led with his head to strip Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel of the ball.

He laid on the field for several minutes then was stretchered off the field. He was taken immediately to the hospital and it was later announced that he suffered head and neck injuries.

It was a scary moment was Mauldin didn’t visibly show any type of movement or even a flinch.

“He had very little from what I saw,” Jets head coach Todd Bowles said when asked if he saw movement from his player.”It’s tough because that’s your player who just came back from an injury. He was working hard at getting back. He got back to play in the opener. He was running around, doing some things and for him to go down like that, your heart goes out to him and his family. after that, it goes out to his teammates. You just hope he’s not seriously hurt.”

Mauldin was the Jets third round pick this past spring.