Damar Hamlin collapses after collision

 

If you’re someone who is playing a sport this is a reminder to not take for granted the sport that you are blessed enough to have the ability to play. Damar Hamlin went face to face with a situation he never thought he’d see during a Monday Night Football game. 

Heading into a Monday Night Football game on Monday, January 2, we would see two teams that both had playoff implications on the line. The Buffalo Bills currently sit as the 2nd seed in the playoff picture and would be the team that would take over the #1 seed if they won this game. The Cincinnati Bengals are currently the 3rd seed in the playoff picture so a win and handing the Bills a loss would mean that the Bengals would win the AFC north division title and they would also move to the 2nd seed spot and the Bills would move to the 3rd seed in the playoffs. 

With the playoff implications out of the way for both teams, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of the game. Going into it the Bills entered 12-3 on the season and the Bengals entered at 11-4 on the season. Other than the playoff implications this game started out like any other game did and everything seemed normal. 

Around the 5:58 mark in the game Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw a pass to tight end Tee Higgins and that’s when it happened, Damar Hamlin got hit and once he got up, he collapsed back onto the field. The scary part about this incident is that the impact between Hamlin and Higgins wasn’t a powerful impact, but it was just enough to hurt Hamlin as he was hit on the left side of his chest, which is his heart. 

An energized Paycor stadium excited to see who would prevail in this big game was suddenly quieted by an injured Hamlin as he would collapse back onto the ground. Emotions were high as fans and the players on both teams could be seen crying. As an ambulance was being brought out it got so quiet that a Pindrop could be heard. Hamlin was on the ground for almost fifteen minutes before he left by ambulance. 

Later, it was discovered that Hamlin had suffered from Commotio Cordis. It is believed to have happened because Hamlin got hit right on the heart at such a moment that messed up Hamlin’s heart rhythm, which is why commotio Cordis is rare.  The reason it took so long getting Hamlin off the field is because he had to get CPR done on the field. The football game would then get postponed and is now awaiting a potential resuming of the game.