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Injured Lions RB Zenner: Not playing 'hardest pill to swallow'

Allen Park — When Lions rookie running back Zach Zenner took a hard hit from Bears linebacker Pernell McPhee last Sunday, he just thought he had the wind knocked out of him.

After jogging to the sideline, team doctors discovered Zenner had cracked ribs — five total fractures in four ribs — and rushed him to the hospital to repair his partially collapsed lung.

Zenner is doing fine now and visited the team facility Friday for a check-in with doctors. He's no longer taking any pain medicine, but there's still some sorrow as he'll miss significant action for the first time in his football career.