NFL CANCELS ANOTHER GAME AS DAMAR HAMLIN RECEIVES PRAISE AND HALOS
Commissioner Roger Goodell must maintain a cancel-if-necessary policy as every game becomes menacing, including a Patriots-Packers game, with the recovering Hamlin receiving applause in Pittsburgh
We’ve dealt with the agony once, hoping it was sudden. Is it returning so soon this autumn? The moment will arrive for Roger Goodell, trying to protect the NFL from its sickening effigy and forcing two more franchises to handle post-mortem heartbreak in the playoffs. Will the torment be even worse now?
The commissioner must know this is football life in a sad resuscitation, hoping the next player survives as Damar Hamlin did. Goodell wasn’t sure Saturday night, agreeing with Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Packers coach Matt LaFleur that a rookie cornerback should be carted to the hospital early in the fourth quarter while both teams were sent home. Unlike Hamlin, who survived the attack of commotio cordis as a heartbeat caused cardiac arrest, Isaiah Bolden did have a concussion and was allowed to return Sunday with the Patriots to New England.
But on the same evening Hamlin returned to his native Pittsburgh for applause and hugs, as his career apparently resumes, Goodell was required to halt another game and hope a young man woke up resiliently in the morning. How many more times will this keep happening? We’re in the preseason of the same calendar year of Hamlin’s heart resuscitation on Jan. 2. None of us have to be surgeons to realize he overcame fate in the days, weeks and months after. Next time, will the player be as immensely lucky? Will he overcome the blunt shot of Bolden?
“Appreciate the prayers, more excited to be back with the guys,” he posted on social media.
Or next time, will a hit from teammate Calvin Munson end a career — or worse? — when they were trying to stop a pass completion to Green Bay’s Malik Heath?
“It brought out that Damar feeling, and that’s just scary,” Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “Looked like it was head to head, like a pile together. You just never know in those moments.”
“Of course, that’s in the back of our minds when something like that happens,” Patriots cornerback Jalen Mills said. “It looks like one of those collision hits, those freak hits that you see on rare occasions in this league — that you hate to see.”
No one cared whether the Patriots preserved a 21-17 lead with 10:29 left. What we may have seen, shockingly, was the unraveling of Belichick as a stone-aged, life-after-Tom-Brady caricature. In recent days, he encouraged his players to bully the Packers in a two-day practice session, the second of which was marred by six separate fights. Not anymore when it was time for the game to be stopped. “We’re all saying a prayer for Isaiah,” said Belichick, 71, who knows he might be kicked upstairs if he doesn’t win this year. “Appreciate the way the league handled it. I think that was the right thing to do. We’re all very fortunate.”
The most searing eyes were captured by the team captain, Matthew Slater, who couldn’t believe Belichick is the man who has handled the Patriots throughout the century. “I really appreciate what Coach Belichick did. He took the initiative on that. Look, this is not the AFC Championship,” Slater said. “We’re not playing for records. It’s preseason Game 2. When you have an injury like that, it affects a lot of guys in a lot of different ways. Clearly, our team was shaken by what happened, and I think Coach made the right decision. I think that was tremendous leadership by him. I have to say honestly, that was one of the proudest moments I’ve had as a guy who’s played for him for now 16 years, to see what he did. There was no hesitation. I appreciate Coach LaFleur, as well, for standing with him. I think everybody acted swiftly, and it was the right call in this situation.
“It’s a reminder of the fragility of life. It’s not something we spend a lot of time thinking about, but the reality is all of us will have to wrestle with that at some point in time, every person who’s ever walked the face of this Earth. I think it’s unfortunate that it happens in this context and this setting because this is meant to be a joyful, celebratory experience. We’re playing a game. We’re doing what we love. We’re entertaining people. People are getting enjoyment out of our game. But it’s a reminder that things can turn on a dime. It’s something you have to put out of your head as a player because you can’t go out there with fear and hesitation, but the reality is things happen in life and things happen in football all the time.”
The question is whether Goodell will make the right decision, as he did over the weekend, before or in the middle of the postseason. In the past, it never was an issue. The Hamlin story makes it a declaration that could happen at all times. I was among the millions who watched in Cincinnati that evening and, honestly, I cannot sustain it again. Yet to hear Hamlin back in his hometown, only a few minutes before Bolden a few states over, and he sounds like nine days in the hospital were all he needed. Not so fast, as any textbook can tell him.
“Special,” Hamlin said after the game. “It was real special, like a moment of serendipity. Life coming full circle for me — everything that I have went through my entire life.”
He received a hug and a uniform toss from his former Pitt teammate, Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett. Coach Mike Tomlin, who has known him for a better part of the decade, gave him a huge hug. “Super appreciative of my coaches for letting me do that,” Hamlin said. “It kind of felt like college again, that feeling I got when I was playing at Pitt. Stadium smelled the same, it was the same energy. It was really taking me back to when I was on the chase and when I was hungry, giving me that old feeling.
“Kenny told me he really wanted that jersey. I really wanted to give it to Coach Tomlin, at first. Just for how much he’s meant to this city, just growing up, being at Pitt and even before Pitt, seeing what culture he brought to Pittsburgh and him allowing me to be so close to him when I was at Pitt. It meant a lot to me and it really shaped my vision for myself. Coach Tomlin will forever hold a special place in my heart.”
Just the week before, including stopping Evan Hull on fourth-and-1 during a three-tackle performance, Hamlin has been praised for dramatic performances by Bills coach Sean McDermott. “What we just witnessed to me is remarkable,” McDermott said after a 24-snap show versus Indianapolis. “It really is. It’s a true sign of a young man’s courage and, obviously, everyone that helped him get to this point. I know there’s a game going on out there today, but I mean, truly remarkable display of courage and strength and faith. Had a chance to communicate with Damar a little bit last night, and he assured me he was ready to go and was going to trust in his preparation and God, and I think that shows a lot about who he is.”
Hamlin made sure, once again, that he told us all: He made the call to keep playing. “When you step in between those lines, you’re putting yourself at risk by hesitating and reserving yourself,” he said. “So, I made the choice that I wanted to play, it wasn’t anybody else’s choice but mine, so making that choice, I know what comes with it. So when you see my cleats laced up and my helmet and shoulder pads on, I’m going to go with no hesitation. Because you can’t play this game like that, you’ll put yourself at more risk if you hesitate. I’m out there just not thinking twice, just playing my game how I was taught to play since I was my little brother’s age.”
A week later, Hamlin said hello again … to his original hometown … and to a return engagement in his sport. “My whole life I wanted to stand for something bigger than myself, and I wanted to truly have a purpose and be able to leave my mark here before I left this place the world,” he said. “To be able to be an inspiration and stand for certain things — courage, perseverance. The list goes on. It’s not always easy. It’s tough at times. I might have my doubts. ‘Why me?’ But God don’t put us in places where we can’t stand it. So I am confident and faithful, and I am just here to live out His purpose.”
Chances are, 33 weeks after his collision with Tee Higgins, Damar Hamlin will carry on as he can in football. I’m not sure it’s the right call, and I’m not as certain after seeing Isaiah Bolden on Saturday night. What I do know is this: Goodell will be on hold, at all times, making sure the game doesn’t go from a $25 billion annual venture into a cesspool for life.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.