The NFL stopped Monday evening, turning away from the relentless enterprise of making ready for video games to hope and hope for the restoration of Buffalo Bills security Damar Hamlin.
Few gamers and coaches, together with these on the Ravens, had witnessed a soccer second so chilling. Hamlin rose from a collision with Cincinnati Bengals huge receiver Tee Higgins and, after taking a number of steps, collapsed to the sphere, his coronary heart not functioning. He needed to be revived as teammates and opponents watched in bewildered horror.
“The first thing that goes through your mind is you’ve never seen anybody fall down like that before,” stated Ravens defensive finish Calais Campbell, who thought he’d glimpsed each eventuality over 15 years within the league.
“It was weird because it looked like such an ordinary play,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey stated. “And then, obviously the more you talked about it, it kind of hit home that, you say all the time you put your life on the line playing this game, but it’s crazy for that to really end up like that.”
“Stuff that’s unimaginable,” stated Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, who was watching the sport. “Every time we put pads on, we never think about that [possibility]. … A hit like that, you wouldn’t think it would have any consequence like what he’s going through. We do plays like that all the time, and nothing happens.”
Hamlin remained within the ICU in vital situation Wednesday however has proven indicators of enchancment, the Bills stated in a press release. The league has but to announce whether or not the Bills-Bengals sport will probably be accomplished. If it isn’t, the Ravens would haven’t any likelihood to win the AFC North, even when they defeat the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
The environment within the Ravens’ locker room was removed from somber Wednesday. Music nonetheless blared. Players nonetheless joked with each other. But each interview started with Hamlin, not with the Bengals or the unclear playoff implications round Sunday’s sport.
“It’s, uh, unique,” Campbell stated of not understanding whether or not a division title will probably be on the road. “You hope they make a ruling, tell us what they’re going to do. But it’s a tough situation. We understand that. Whatever the ruling may be … we’ll accept it.”
This is a league that rolled on by means of the COVID pandemic with mutant rosters taking part in in stadiums stripped of followers. Games routinely restart minutes after gamers wobble off the sphere with head accidents. So it was sobering to observe present and former NFL stars react to what they watched from Cincinnati. All of them have accepted the summary risk of struggling a horrible damage from the sport, however this was a deeper, extra rapid confrontation with their worst fears.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who started making ready for the Ravens as he was nonetheless processing the expertise of watching Hamlin combat for his life, recalled the phrases Bills coach Sean McDermott spoke to him on the sphere: “I need to be at the hospital with Damar. I shouldn’t be coaching this game.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh stated his thoughts instantly went to McDermott and Taylor, coaches he has competed in opposition to and respects, as he watched occasions unfold Monday.
“You put yourself in the shoes of the people involved. You can see yourself on that sideline trying to deal with it,” he stated. “You try to think to yourself, ‘What would I do? How would I think in that situation?’ I admired the two head coaches very much for the way they handled it.”
“Unprecedented is the word that gets thrown around a lot about this situation, because it is,” Taylor stated at his information convention Wednesday. “You do have to move forward as a team, because we do have a game to play on Sunday. We do have to move focus to that. But at the same time, you don’t have to move past what’s happening right now. … I think talking about it — what you saw, what you felt — helps.”
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow told reporters Wednesday there have been facet discussions amongst gamers about not taking part in Sunday. “Personally, I think playing is going to be tough,” stated Burrow, who acknowledged combined emotions within the locker room.
When the Ravens gathered Tuesday, they talked about Hamlin of their positional conferences. Most have spent the week checking for updates on his situation every time they’ve free moments. The group’s psychologist and chaplain have been accessible for counseling periods.
“We came in Tuesday and had meetings, and there was something that didn’t feel right about being there and doing that,” tight finish Mark Andrews stated. “But there’s nothing we can really do but come in here and do our jobs and pray. Everything else, we can’t control.”
Andrews tried to place himself within the sneakers of Hamlin’s teammates and members of the family. “It’s tough to see,” he stated. “But I think it’s incredible, just the NFL community, the brotherhood, the players, just the prayer that everybody has had for him.”
Said Queen: “The biggest thing we were all getting from it was just being grateful for the people around you, for what you do, for your family. Just stuff outside of football. … We look at each other different. You look at your family different. You look at everything that’s in your life outside of football different.”
Players stated they will’t let the haunting pictures they noticed Monday evening change their strategy to video games. They’re used to seeing horrible accidents on the sphere — ankles bent the flawed manner, eyes dazed after concussive hits — and forging forward. They know that the bodily and monetary implications of such moments may carry effectively previous their closing NFL snaps.
“It probably lingers in some people’s heads,” Queen stated. “I think for me, it won’t. I just go out there and play the game that I love. I think we all do. We expect to play at the highest level, and I don’t think we look toward injury.”
“The weird thing is, if you’re going all out and you got hurt, or you’re playing kind of soft and you get hurt, which way would you rather go out?” Humphrey stated. “I think there’s something there. If you’re going to play this game, you just go all out. What happens, happens.”
So many Ravens used the phrase “love” to explain their relationship to the game, even within the shadow of tragedy.
“If I didn’t love this game, maybe it would be more difficult,” Andrews stated when requested the way it will really feel to play Sunday on the identical area the place Hamlin collapsed. “But I love what I do. I love each and every day. … My love for the game doesn’t alter or change just because something bad happened.”
Week 18
Ravens at Bengals
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 13
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Bengals by 6 1/2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com