A Patriots wide receiver's arm bent the wrong way in a nasty preseason elbow injury

Hey, the first NFL preseason games were on Thursday night! You may have been watching the Olympics, but the NFL finally came back after its first attempt to return to the center of our attention was a ludicrous failure. Maybe somewhere, those "football gods" that cliched announcers like to talk about noticed the horrific, bone-snapping injuries that Olympic athletes have suffered in the last week and decided one of those was what the game needed to jump back into the public consciousness.

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If that's the case: Sorry, Malcolm Mitchell — you were a sacrifice to the football gods. The New England Patriots' fourth-round pick from this year's draft planted his hand in the turf while being tackled, his elbow locked, and the result was extremely gross:

Mitchell suffered an elbow subluxation, according to NFL.com, and X-rays were negative. Considering how graphic the moment was, Mitchell is very lucky — you know, relatively. He's expected to miss a minimum of four weeks, which should see him back on the field after only a couple of regular season games. Mitchell was a standout at the University of Georgia, and a more serious injury might have put his roster spot in jeopardy. Here's hoping he makes us remember him for something better than his arm bending the wrong way.

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