Time figuratively stopped when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed in the first quarter of Monday night’s matchup between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin had just secured a tackle but suffered what ended up being cardiac arrest just moments after he stood up. He was given CPR on the field, and for most, it was a scene that will never be forgotten. Hamlin’s life was on the line, and in that moment and in the following moments after he was taken by ambulance to the hospital with everything up in the air — football and the NFL were really put into perspective.
Four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers was one of many who was shocked, and he told Pat McAfee on Tuesday that canceling the game and moving on is not enough. Players, specifically his teammates, need time to digest what happened, and they need to actually talk about it.
“I think there needs to be, a, you know, conversation around it. I don’t think you can just gloss it over and ‘Oh, onto to ‘Sunday Night Football’ play-in game for the playoffs.’ It’s like, let’s take a little timeout here. Let’s remember what’s really important,” Rodgers said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ (h/t NESN’s Mike Cole). “Let’s hug your loved ones, text the people you care about, tell them you love them because this is a good moment to pause and contemplate and reflect and show some empathy and respect not just for Hamlin but every player that laces them up every single week.”
Rodgers believes that this incident is way too big for players to gloss over. It was scary enough for fans and people not involved in the game. For players, though, Hamlin leaving the game in an ambulance after receiving CPR on the field for nearly 10 minutes is a stark reminder about the game of football as a profession.
“Whether you’re currently playing or done playing, you’re shook by this because you don’t think you’d ever see something like this on the field,” he said. “It’s bad enough when you see a guy gets carted off, right? That messes with you. Or when you see a guy take a really bad concussive shot, and you’re like, ‘Man, I don’t want that to be me.’ Am I going to have my cognitive function when I’m 50, 60? What kind of risk am I really setting myself up for. This kid’s 24 years old, right? This really, it f—ed me up last night.”
Hamlin is currently being hospitalized at the Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati, and the last update from the Bills is that he is in the ICU and in critical condition.
