Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills Is in Critical Condition After Collapsing on the Field

The NFL said Hamlin received immediate medical attention on the field by the team and independent medical staff, along with local paramedics. “Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills,” the league said.

The incident occurred after Hamlin was involved in a tackle during the first quarter of the game. He appeared to take a hard hit to the chest during the tackle. After the play, Hamlin got up—and then suddenly collapsed.

He was quickly surrounded by medical personnel, who performed CPR on the 24-year-old for what appeared to be several minutes. An ambulance soon came out onto the field and whisked Hamlin away. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to the ESPN broadcast, a facility that is a level one trauma center. Bills star receiver Stefon Diggs was later shown arriving at the hospital.

Players on both teams were visibly shaken after the frightening moment, with no immediate information available about Hamlin’s condition. At one point, Bills players gathered and knelt in a large prayer circle. His mother was at the game, according to the broadcast.

Hamlin was a sixth-round pick by the Bills in last year’s NFL draft. This year, he has emerged as a starter for the team for much of the season. He grew up in Pennsylvania and attended college at the University of Pittsburgh.

The scene, which unfolded midway through the first quarter and the Bengals leading 7-3, cast a scary shadow over what had been one of the most hotly anticipated games of this NFL season. The Bills and Bengals are both among the Super Bowl favorites and feature young superstar quarterbacks in Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.

But as the players tried to process what unfolded on the field, a surreal scene emerged. Players were in tears and others looked to be in shock. Burrow and Allen, in the middle of a game, embraced.

The dramatic sequence of events began at around 8:55 pm Eastern time, and Hamlin received medical attention on the field for some time afterwards. The ambulance left the stadium about 30 minutes later, by which point the game had been temporarily suspended. Just after 10 pm, the NFL officially postponed the game.

For a brief moment, it seemed that there was a move to restart the game quickly after the ambulance left the field. The ESPN broadcast said that players had been given a five-minute warning to warm up and get ready for the game to resume.

But after Bills coach Sean McDermott met with his counterpart Zac Taylor, the players headed to the locker room and the game was temporarily suspended.

Prayers and well wishes for Hamlin quickly poured in from players across the NFL in the minutes afterward. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations were also sent to a toy drive organized by Hamlin in the hours after the incident.

“The NFLPA and everyone in our community is praying for Damar Hamlin,” the NFL Players Association wrote on Twitter as word emerged that the game was postponed. “We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL. The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being.”

The incident quickly ignited flashbacks to some of the scariest medical situations throughout football history. It has been 51 years since Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes collapsed on the field and died during a game. Examinations later showed that he had an undiagnosed blocked artery. More recently, former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, who appeared unable to move his legs on the field after a career-ending spinal injury he suffered in 2017, was among those who tweeted support for Hamlin.

This was also the second jarring and high-profile health and safety incident this season that has jarred the NFL, a league in which player safety is a topic of constant debate. In the span of back-to-back games earlier this season, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a pair of violent hits to the head—sparking controversy over whether he suffered an undiagnosed concussion during the first one. After the second hit, he had to be stretchered off the field and taken to the hospital. Tagovailoa missed Sunday’s game after suffering another concussion.

The NFL did not immediately say when the Bills and Bengals might finish the game. The window to squeeze something in is tight, with this showdown already taking place on Monday night ahead of the final weekend of the regular season.

The game is also consequential for the playoffs, as the Bills and Bengals both still have a chance at the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. The two teams are vying with the Kansas City Chiefs for that prize, with the Bills in the pole position if they win their last two games.

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]