Bills’ Safety Damar Hamlin in Critical Condition After Collapsing on the Field

Thoughts and prayers to the 24-year-old safety

Damar Hamlin looks on prior to a game in September.
Damar Hamlin is the only story from Week 17.
Megan Briggs/Getty

The Week 17 installment of Monday Night Football was like nothing that has ever been seen in the NFL before due to what happened to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin a little before 9:00 p.m. last evening.

A 24-year-old, Hamlin tackled Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and got to his feet before crumpling and collapsing to the ground. Within short order, a stretcher and ambulance came onto the field as most of Buffalo’s players and some Bengals gathered around Hamlin as he was treated by medical professionals.

As the scene got progressively more scary and emotional as told by the expressions on the players’ faces, the coaches and officials met multiple times at midfield and came to the correct decision at 9:17 p.m. to temporarily suspend the game. Shortly after 10 p.m., the NFL came to the once-again correct decision to push the remainder of the game to a later date.

Early Tuesday, the Bills provided an update about Hamlin’s condition.

As of this writing, Hamlin’s status moving forward is unclear, but there is certainly no other storyline that looms larger following Week 17 in the NFL. (Whether Bills-Bengals will be resumed at a later date has yet to be determined.) For a look at what happened In Week 16, there’s this. As for this week, we will simply defer to J.J. Watt.

Thoughts and prayers to Damar Hamlin and kudos to the NFL for doing the right thing.

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