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For once, the NFL stopped. It stayed cold. The relentless sport had to, even if he really didn’t want to, because the horror was inevitable. On Monday night, Buffalo Bills security’s Damar Hamlin collapsed in front of a national television audience. He didn’t get up. The violence could not be minimized.
Hamlin, a 24-year-old from McKees Rocks, Pa., who became a starter in September after injuring a teammate’s neck, played typical football in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals. He absorbed a punch to the chest as he tackled wide receiver Tee Higgins. He stood up and then fell backwards. Next came a frantic rush to revive the young man, who had just hugged his parents during the pre-game warm-up. He needed CPR, a stretcher, an ambulance. Amidst the chaos, the reaction from players made it clear that the situation had gotten dire.
Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen stood frozen, hands over his mouth, eyes wide. Wide receiver Stefon Diggs cried and swayed. Cornerback Tre’Davious White cupped his hands over his head and mouthed words of disbelief as tears welled down his black eyes. The entire Bills team knelt in prayer as the ambulance pulled away.
Hamlin set at 8:55 p.m. Eastern time. For the next 66 minutes, as paramedics rushed him to a hospital from Paycor Stadium and NFL officials struggled to make the decision to sit out the game, the sport didn’t matter. That game – one of the most anticipated of the season, a Week 17 showdown with major repercussions for the AFC’s No. 1 playoff playoff – could not be played. With Hamlin fighting for his life, there was no next man up mentality that night. There would be no next game.
On Monday Night Football, a great American tradition, we witnessed one of the most chilling moments in the history of television sports. A scary game that can happen at any time in any game. But it happened on the biggest stage – during the night’s only professional football game, in the last game of the season on Monday night. It was a reminder of the relentless brutality of the sport. It forced everyone to confront the harsh reality of this beloved game.
Football is not a sport that happens to be violent. It’s an inherently vicious sport that many viewers rightly consider brutal. Most don’t enjoy it, despite the constant collisions. They love it because of them. It’s surprising that the game avoided a plethora of scary scenes throughout its story. But no matter how well the coaches teach the right fundamentals, no matter how disciplined the players are in controlling their aggression, that’s the nature of the sport.
The addiction to it is so strong that not a single moment, not even a traumatic one, will scare the masses away. And the conclusion shouldn’t be to hate football or feel guilty about loving it. However, it is a warning to balance obsession with reasonable concern for the human risk involved.
Bills, Bengals player in tears as the sporting world reacts to Damar Hamlin’s injury
Hamlin became a Week 3 starter after safety Micah Hyde injured his neck in Buffalo’s 41-7 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 19. That was also a game on Monday night. Hyde, who has suffered from neck problems in the past, was forced to disembark in an ambulance. He is not expected to return this season. A month after the incident, Hyde revealed how scared he was.
“What happened that Monday night opened my eyes,” Hyde told reporters in October. “And I understand that this is a violent game. Anything can happen any night, but it was really eye-opening to get on the ambulance after or during the game and take my wife to the hospital. I had a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, so life was put right in front of me and it scared me a bit.”
Somehow the players hide their fears and perform every week. Then they see one of their brothers not getting up.
During a raw ESPN broadcast, former NFL defenseman Anthony “Booger” McFarland tried to collect himself, as did studio host Suzy Kolber and reporter Adam Schefter. As they led the coverage for most of the 66 minutes it took until play was officially halted at 10:01 p.m., the emotion was palpable. They processed the unprecedented as they spoke. It felt like a vigil. It was painful but meaningful television.
“Football is entertainment,” McFarland once said. “Nobody wants to be entertained tonight. … We’re done playing football tonight. Let us continue.”
How ESPN viewers found out about Damar Hamlin’s injury
Kolber: “The emotion we are experiencing tonight is really difficult to describe.”
At that moment it was okay. This was the real NFL, not the elaborately produced gladiator glorification that normalizes pain and human availability.
“All you ever think about is the good stuff,” said ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, a former NFL safety. “No one ever visualizes the bad.”
Clark spoke passionately on “SportsCenter” just after midnight.
“That’s not what we’re waking up to in this game,” Clark said of players coping with trauma. “We were not conditioned by that. And that’s obviously when [Bills Coach] Sean McDermott and [Bengals Coach] Zac Taylor meet in the middle of the field or they meet in the tunnel and they say, ‘We can’t do this.’ They couldn’t send these men back onto the field to do something they were built their whole lives to do because no one should have to deal with what Damar Hamlin is dealing with tonight. They don’t teach us that. We don’t talk about that. We don’t talk about that. They don’t try to build us up to the point where it’s okay, because actually it’s not okay.”
As medical staff circled Hamlin on the field, Buffalo cornerback Siran Neal walked several feet away, crying, gasping and tugging at his jersey and shoulder pads. He bowed his head and got on his knees until a teammate running back to Nyheim Hines leaned over to comfort him.
The two stayed on the lawn in an embrace, concerned about Hamlin, unconcerned about football. For the time being, the game must bow to this torment.