The morning after his first N.F.L. game, Lorenzo Mauldin IV woke up in a Manhattan hospital wondering how he had gotten there. He remembered chasing the quarterback and diving to make a tackle. After that, nothing.
He did not remember the hit that left him motionless on the MetLife Stadium turf on Sept. 13. Or the two wobbly steps he took before falling forward, unconscious. Or the backboard dispatched to immobilize him, the cart that escorted him toward an ambulance, the blaring sirens of the police escort or the frightened looks on the faces of his Jets teammates and coaches, who worried he had sustained an injury to his neck or spine, or worse.