CINCINNATI — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest when he collapsed on the field in the first quarter of Monday night's game between the Bills and Bengals in Cincinnati, leading to the game's postponement, the Bills said early Wednesday morning.
Hamlin was transported to a Cincinnati hospital where he is sedated and in critical condition.
The Bills said Hamlin's heartbeat was restored on the field after CPR. During CPR, Hamlin was surrounded by teammates and members of the Bengals, some of them in tears after he was hurt while tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins.
While many are speculating about what's next for the Bills-Bengals game, which was a high-profile matchup between two top AFC teams with just one week left in the season, Locked On Bills podcast host Joe Marino said it's not time for that.
“At the end of the day, (Damar Hamlin’s) health is the only thing that matters. The details, the logistics of the game, they’re just not important," Marino said. "So if you’re struggling to process what just happened, you’re not alone. I’m literally right there with you.”
Marino said he struggled with finding the right words to say.
“It’s a gut-wrenching situation, and we’ll get back to taking about football when that’s appropriate.”
Jake Liscow and James Rapien, hosts of the daily Locked On Bengals podcast took a similar approach, acknowledging it would not be a normal episode to discuss football, saying Hamlin's health is the priority and at the forefront.
Rapien was at the stadium on Monday night and discussed how Bills and Bengals coaches, players and staffers came together while Hamlin was being treated on the field and after he was taken away in an ambulance while the game was "temporarily suspended."
Rapien said Bengals QB Joe Burrow gathered Bengals captains to go to the Bills' locker room during that time.
"It was no doubt the most hyped game of the year, the most anticipated game of the year, not just Bengals-wise, but maybe NFL-wise, and suddenly these two teams came together as one because they just saw one of their brothers go down in what was a very, very scary scene," Rapien said.
Further updates on Damar Hamlin's health have not been made officially available by the Bills or the NFL as of 3 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.
On a conference call late Monday night, NFL officials said Buffalo Bills players were going back to Buffalo that night/Tuesday morning. However, officials said some players intend to stay behind in Cincinnati to be near Hamlin.
The NFL has not announced decisions related to the game itself.
An ambulance was on the field four minutes after Hamlin collapsed, with many players in tears, including cornerback Tre’Davious White. The quarterbacks — Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow — embraced.
“Please pray for our brother,” Allen tweeted.
