This is why you don’t play starters in the first preseason game – and why some teams are limiting starter reps in August altogether.
The Detroit Lions lost three players to potentially serious injuries in the first half of their preseason opener Thursday against the New England Patriots.
Jermaine Kearse, who was vying for the No. 4 receiver job, suffered a gruesome left leg injury on the fifth snap of the game. Trainers put Kearse’s leg in an air cast while he lay on the field, and Kearse had to be carted to the locker room.
Tom Savage, who started at quarterback in place of Matthew Stafford, left the game on the Lions’ next series with an apparent concussion.