“NFL-A Chilling Moment”

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We have never seen this before in modern day football, what we saw in Cincinnati in the Bengals-Bills game.

Young Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin, collapsed on the field after making a tackle on a Bengals receiver..

He got up, then fell backwards on the field-as if lifeless.

As doctors rushed to the field, a pall fell over the sidelines.  Then medical people called for an ambulance.

The report they were performing CPR infront of Bills players was numbing.

The urgency the medics showed to get to a player ‘in trouble’ was alarming.  And when you saw the players together come from a ‘wall’ around their stricken teammate, you knew this was a once in a lifetime happening.

I had the first reaction that the player suffered a heart attack on the field, that or a stroke.  He did not suffer a head injury.

He collapsed at 5:55pm, and he was given medical CPR treatment till 6:14pm.  He was then transported to the hospital at 6:25pm..

He was in critical condition and still alive at the trauma center at the University of Cincinnati medical center later in the evening.

If the NFL, you see major injuries.  Concussions and neck injuries.  Knee injuries, shoulder injuries.

None are life threatening. like this.

A New York Jets offensive lineman, a Steelers linebacker, both suffered career ending neck and spinal column injuries on collisions.

It’s a high speed game with big hits.  Injuries are part of the NFL.

Death is not.

The bond players build in that lockeroom is a bond that lasts a lifetime.  To see their reaction within moments of Hamlin going down.

In modern day NFL football, only one player has died on the field.  In the 1971-season, Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes died of a heart attack on the field.  An autopsy showed he had a blood clot near his heart.

The game lost its importance.  The race for playoff spots seems meaningless.  The enthusiasm for the Josh Allen-Joe Burrow quarterback duel vanished.

Football players tweeted nationally, asking for prayers, not knowing the status of the fallen player.

I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to be in the Bengals or Bills locker rooms.  Head coaches, who are exceptional sales people when it comes to making speeches, had to be speechless on how to address their players to the tragedy that unfolded right in front of them.

A chilling moment, a sad moment, a silent moment in every corner of Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

Hard to describe how anyone comes back from a tragedy like this.

Joe Burrow came across the field to hug Josh Allen.  The player’s prayer groups showed how grave the situation was.

The blank stares in the look of the two head coaches emphasized the seriousness of this.

This was a life and death moment, so numbing, you cannot describe this.
Neither can you describe what the next days will be like for the Bills and Bengals to deal with this.

They say you are one play away from the end of your career in the NFL.

A player fighting for his life.  No one could have ever imagined this.
It’s in the hands of great medical people and his God.

A night never to forget, for all the wrong reasons.
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