Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed after making a tackle and went into cardiac arrest.
The life-threatening injury to Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills during a game against the Bengals, televised on “Monday Night Football,” resonated around the league and the world of sports.
What happened?
In the first quarter of the Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati, Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety, tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, taking him to the ground. Hamlin stood up after the tackle and took two steps but then collapsed to the turf. Higgins was not hurt.
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and was administered CPR, and his heartbeat was revived on the field. He was then taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in critical condition.
Hamlin was injured on a tackle of wide receiver Tee Higgins. He briefly got to this feet before collapsing on the field. Reportedly, CPR and AED was administered to Hamlin before he was taken to a local hospital. The game was suspended and will not be resumed Monday night.
The eerie and heartbreaking scene that unfolded on the field in the aftermath of Damar Hamlin’s collapse during Monday night’s Cincinnati Bengals-Buffalo Bills game presented a nearly unprecedented scenario for ESPN’s football broadcast. In a surreal scene, bouncing between the game broadcast crew in Cincinnati and a subdued studio set, a network that had prepared to cover one of the season’s biggest games suddenly found itself covering a medical calamity.
Viewers at home watched the developing story unfold slowly, as commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Lisa Salters received information and relayed it in real time.
The telecast initially cut to a series of commercials as Hamlin was first attended to, common practice after injuries during NFL games.
