It was painful for fans to watch and painful for Dak Prescott Sunday.
"Those of us in the sports medicine world know exactly what happened as soon as he rolled over," said Dr. Tarek Souryal, former Dallas Mavericks team doctor.
And while the injury looked bad, medical experts say a compound fracture is a common injury they see often. Dr. Minn Saing is an orthopedic surgeon at Medical City Lewisville.
"I see this injury almost every week. We see this injury in skateboards, roller skating, people who fell off their porch and motor vehicle accidents," said Saing.
The injury can sideline athletes for months while they recover from the surgery needed to fix it.
A compound fracture means the bone broke through the skin, and that’s why Prescott had to go into surgery immediately.
You want to take that to surgery right away because you worry about infection, you wash it out and irrigate it," said Saing.
The good news is, after surgery, most athletes recover fully.
"For someone like Dak who is a high-level quarterback this is season-ending but not a career-ending injury," said Saing.
Many say Dak is in good hands with Dr. Dan Cooper, the Cowboys head doctor. He's an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine.
He helped Cowboys linebacker, Jaylon Smith come back from a severe knee injury.
Stephania Bell is a senior injury analyst for ESPN.
"Dr. Cooper is well known to those of us who have been in the world of elite sports for a long time," said Bell.
Dr. Tarek Souryal was the Dallas Mavs team doctor and agrees Dak will get great care.
"He's got an incredible medical staff at this disposal, he's going to have the best rehablitation available," said Dr. Souryal.
Coach Mike McCarthy visited his star quarterback in the hospital.
He says he feels terrible for Dak and while it's a setback, doctors believe he can be back and better than ever next season.
