Dan Campbell saw the ambulance and the paramedics and the tears in the eyes of the players after Damar Hamlin of the Bills had collapsed on the field Monday night in Cincinnati and said, "That's when reality hits, like, this is not the norm."
"When you go through all that you go through with guys, injuries happen and you learn to move on, but I can only imagine being out there," Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "That's one of your brothers. You realize things get real in a hurry and you're trying to get him back, that'll shake you, man. I'm glad they did the right thing and didn't finish that out last night. That wouldn't have been smart, but thoughts and prayers for them."
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after colliding with Tee Higgins of the Bengals. His heartbeat was restored on the field after several minutes of CPR and AED treatment and he was transported via ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was sedated and listed in critical condition as of early Tuesday morning.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was also watching the game and said Tuesday on The Ticket, "It's really hard to process and to think about going back out there at some point. Obviously thinking about Damar and his family and his teammates and how hard this must be for them. But it shakes everybody, it shakes our whole NFL world and it certainly shook me for the last however many hours."
The Lions had one of their own players taken off the field by ambulance in their Week 5 loss to the Patriots this season when safety Savion Smith collapsed after suffering a neck injury and briefly lost the ability to move his limbs or speak. (Smith was stabilized and intends to make a full recovery.)
Asked about discussing the risk of football with this players, Campbell said, "There's such a fine line between understanding that there is risk in this game and we all sign up for it, but also understanding that at some point it goes beyond that."
"That's the scary side of it that you really don't want to even think about," he said. "I sure as heck never did. And I think if you start thinking too much into it you'll never want to play this game. That's where you gotta be careful, but I know it's something we gotta talk about because it's out there. This is a real human being and those are his brothers out there and that's something that will never leave you."
The NFL suspended Monday night's game, which the Bengals were leading 7-3 at the time of Hamlin's injury. Said Goff, "Watching that unfold, there's no way that game was going to be played."
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family, the whole Buffalo Bills family and everybody that was out there in that moment," said Campbell.
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