Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While Sunday's matchup between the Bills and Bengals is not the first time both teams have met since Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2023 in a Week 17 showdown last season, it will be the first time Buffalo is returning to Cincinnati since the traumatic incident.
Not just will the Bills be playing the Bengals on the same field that incident took place at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, but it will also take place in prime-time, like that night last year, on "Sunday Night Football".
While Bills general manager Brandon Beane expects Sunday's contest to be a good game, he knows a huge topic of discussion throughout the night will be the return of Hamlin and the Bills to Cincinnati just months after his cardiac arrest.
Despite trying to treat this game as if it's any other week, Beane knows his team will be ready in the days and hours leading up to kickoff if anyone needs support heading back to Cincinnati.
"We have a lot of checks and balances in place with our support staff. Everybody needs different things. What you may need, I may need some different, but we've got a great support staff with Mark Carrier, 'Dr. Des' [Desaree Festa], Len Vanden Bos, Kelsey [Harkins], all our trainers and all that crew. Everybody needs a little something different, but we've got all these little things in place," said Beane during an appearance on the "Extra Point Show" on WGR with Sal Capaccio and Joe DiBiase. "Some guys, yeah, maybe some individual 1-on-1 time, maybe some small groups. But I think everyone's aware of what week it is, and we'll try and have them ready to roll so they can compartmentalize it the best, and go out there and play fast."
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Looking back to that incident 10 months ago, Bills head coach Sean McDermott says his team has acknowledged all that unfolded there, and believes his group is extremely thankful that Hamlin is now in a good spot.
"I think we all learned a lot of valuable lessons from that on the individual level, to be grateful for every day, and then on a team level and on a league level, as well as just overall sports and how you handle things. I think there's a lot of valuable lessons that were taken out of that situation, and we're extremely grateful that Damar is in a good spot," said McDermott during his meeting with the media on Wednesday. "That said, we acknowledge it, but we've got a football game to play and a job to do. That's what we're focused on right now."
Meanwhile, Bills quarterback Josh Allen says what happened 10 months ago in Cincinnati hasn't been too much of a talking point in the locker room. He feels the focus heading into Sunday night's game has been where it needs to be, but if it happens to come up, he knows there's the right amount of resources in the building to help deal with it.
"It's hard to tell exactly how guys are gonna feel, exactly how I'm gonna feel. I'm trying to take as it's a normal game. We don't make it any bigger or less than the previous or the next one, but I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of emotions flowing through some guys there and being back on that field, especially Damar," said Allen on Wednesday. "But at the same time, we've got a job to do, and we've got to figure out how we can either use it to motivate us or put it behind us and focus towards the game on Sunday night."
Local sports psychologist Kellie Peiper feels the Bills have done their due diligence in the time that has passed since Hamlin's cardiac arrest in offering support for the guys on and off the field to process any of the trauma that took place during that incident. She expects that to continue in the days and hours leading up to kickoff in Cincinnati.
"They will be prepared with support, should any of the guys experienced any trauma or be triggered once they're in the venue," said Peiper in an interview with WBEN. "We know that trauma is very individual, and can be kind of unpredictable. So certainly preparing to offer support in the event that, individually, any of them should need that during that time."
And at the same time, Peiper also understands the importance and significance of the team having to go about their business as usual, and not putting more energy into that piece of it than necessary.
"They prepare as if they would any other Sunday, and they're very task-focused, doing their due diligence to make sure they're treating this 'as they would any other game they're preparing for,' in the sense that they're being as logical and as task-minded, and breaking things down into pieces like they would if they were preparing for any other opponent," Peiper said.
Peiper says there certainly could be concern when it comes to the mental health of a player once they step back on the field in Cincinnati come Sunday night. When it comes to trauma response, Peiper knows it is very much different depending upon the individual.
"There may be some athletes that are able to move through that day in pretty regular form, and there may be others that have done the work to move through that since it happened, and may show up on the day of and be triggered in a way they wouldn't expect," she said. "I think the team will make sure they have support in place, should that happen, and also let that not be their focus with the idea that they have a job to do on that day."
This also includes Hamlin's response heading into Sunday night's game. While the 25-year-old may not even play this coming Sunday, as has been much of the case this season, Peiper feels it has to be very athlete-driven with how Hamlin is feeling ahead of the game.
"The conversations with him, I would expect from the mental health staff and the support that's available through the Bills, is very much being driven by his comfort level and where he is with his own mental health around the incident, and what he wants his role to be on the day of," Peiper said.
While the NFL does have its scheduling quirks with where and when certain teams play against each other, should it have been in the best interest of the players' mental health, both for the Bills and Bengals, to not play this game in similar circumstances to last season's Week 17 matchup?
"I think the players understand the level they're competing at, and it's bigger than just them. They're looking at the whole picture - the financial side of it and all of those things," Peiper said. "I would think the guys would think it's bigger picture than that and, again, they're going to prepare as if it's any other Sunday and put themselves in the headspace they need to be in."