Cleveland Browns rookie linebacker Barkevious Mingo was lucky to escape with a bruised lung after suffering what one doctor called a "very, very unusual" injury during last Thursday's 24-6 preseason victory over the Detroit Lions. Mingo revealed Sunday that he was spitting up blood after taking a hit on a kickoff return. According to The Plain Dealer, the estimated mortality rate on Mingo's injury is "about 14 percent to 40 percent." In fact, Dr. Clark Fuller, director of thoracic surgery at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., told The Plain Dealer that the linebacker would have risked death had he remained in the game and taken a hit to the chest. Fuller did not treat Mingo, but he explained that the linebacker had already torn small blood vessels, "And if you tear some larger ones, the chest cavity is an area where you could bleed to death and nobody ever sees a drop of blood on the ground." Mingo skirted disaster by going straight to the coaches because he "didn't feel right" and had trouble catching his breath. Source: NFL.com
