2023 collapse of Damar Hamlin

Damar Hamlin is removed from Paycor Stadium in an ambulance. The Buffalo Bills, in white, kneeling in prayer at the bottom left of the image.

On January 2, 2023, during the ongoing Week 17 game of the 2022 NFL season between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed with 5:58 left in the first quarter after tackling wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest near midfield at Paycor Stadium. CPR and defibrillation were administered before he was rushed to a local hospital.

Background

The game was started on January 2, 2023, on Monday Night Football in Week 17 of the 2022 NFL season. Entering the game the Bills were 12–3, and still fighting for the number 1 seed in the AFC, while the Bengals were 11–4 and still fighting to secure first place in the AFC North. With a win, the Bengals would have secured the division and forced the Baltimore Ravens, who were already locked into the playoffs, into a wild card slot. While not able to clinch the number 1 seed due to the Kansas City Chiefs winning the day prior, a Bills win would move them back to first place in the AFC.

The game was the only one in Week 17 where both teams had a winning record.

Game before the incident

Game suspended
5:58 left in the first quarter

Score at time of suspension
Buffalo Bills (12–3) Cincinnati Bengals (11–4) 3 7 Head coach: Sean McDermott Head coach: Zac Taylor
1 2 3 4 Total BUF 3 - - - 3 CIN 7 - - - 7
Date	January 2, 2023
Stadium	Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Bengals received the opening kickoff and proceeded to march down the field. The drive was capped off with a 14-yard touchdown to Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd from quarterback Joe Burrow. The Bills' first drive ended in the red zone, but resulted in a 25-yard Tyler Bass field goal.

Incident

During the Bengals' second drive, Burrow found receiver Tee Higgins for a short gain. After making the tackle, Hamlin got up for a few seconds before collapsing. As he remained motionless, team trainers and paramedics rushed to his side within seconds. Hamlin was then placed on a stretcher and an ambulance came onto the field within minutes as most of the players from both teams came off the sidelines to kneel or stand around Hamlin. First responders initiated CPR and administered defibrillation to Hamlin on the field for 10 minutes. Hamlin was also given oxygen, intubated, and administered an intravenous solution (IV). At 9:12 p.m. EST, Damar left the field in the ambulance and was transported to University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center by 9:30 p.m. where he was reported to be in critical condition, having gone into cardiac arrest.

At 9:14 p.m. the teams were told to begin warm ups as reported by ESPN, only for both head coaches to pull their players from the field minutes later. In accordance with the NFL's emergency-situation rules, the game was suspended at 9:16 p.m. with 5:58 remaining in the first quarter. Both head coaches would meet again with the officials in the tunnels of the stadium after 9:29 p.m. The game was officially postponed shortly after 10 p.m., just over one hour after Hamlin collapsed.

Television coverage

The game was aired on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes as part of ESPN's Monday Night Football coverage. Because of the threat of an overrun from the 2023 Rose Bowl airing immediately prior to the game on ESPN (and diversion of Megacast resources to that game), there was no Manningcast for this game on ESPN2. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were on the call of the game, Lisa Salters was the sideline reporter, while John Parry was the rules analyst. Buck and Aikman were on the call for the initial incident, but coverage was quickly moved to ESPN's Monday Night Countdown studio team of Adam Schefter, Booger McFarland and Suzy Kolber. Following the announcement of the game's suspension, coverage shifted to a special edition of SportsCenter hosted by Scott Van Pelt from Washington, D.C..

ESPN was praised for its coverage of the incident. Contributors Ryan Clark and Booger McFarland were specfically praised for their commentary.

ESPN's coverage of the incident, on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, from 9PM to 10:15PM, which mostly featured coverage from the Monday Night Countdown crew, averaged 23.9 million viewers. SportsCenter coverage, from 10:15PM to 11PM, on ESPN and ABC, averaged 14.3 million viewers.

NFL criticism

The NFL was criticized for its reaction to the incident. Joe Buck initially reported on the broadcast that after the ambulance took Hamlin away, the NFL had told teams they had five minutes to prepare to resume playing. This decision was criticized immediately by commentators, but the NFL denied the report. The following day, Buck responded to the NFL and Vincent, and stood by the claim that he was told both teams had five minutes to warm-up before resuming the game. A similar report regarding the players warming-up to resume play was aired on Westwood One.

The NFL was also criticized for not immediately postponing the game following the incident. While teams were sent to the locker room quickly, the game was not officially postponed until over an hour after the incident.

Aftermath

Hamlin was sedated and placed on a ventilator at University of Cincinnati Medical Center following the incident. Twenty four hours after the incident, his oxygen was reduced from 100% to 50%, but Hamlin was still unable to breathe on his own. Hamlin was also moved to his stomach to take pressure off his lungs.

In the hours following the incident, fans donated over $3 million to a holiday toy drive Hamlin had established in 2020, which had an original target of $2,500 on GoFundMe. Donations continued mounting, to almost surpass $7.5 million by Thursday evening. At least one fraudulent campaign created after Hamlin's injury had to be taken down by GoFundMe.

On January 3, the NFL announced that the game would not be completed that week, nor had they made any changes to the following week's schedule, the last of the regular season. The only other option for resuming or replaying the contest would be to postpone part or all of the 2022–23 NFL playoffs and allow the Bills and Bengals to play or finish the game as a "Week 19" contest so to determine the final playoff seeding. The league also has the option of declaring the game a "no contest" and proceeding as scheduled without finishing or replaying the game. Because of the playoff implications, between the Bills, Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs all competing for a first-round bye in the playoffs, the league is considering using a random draw to exclude one Chiefs contest from the record for purpose of putting the three teams on equal footing to determine the seeds. The league is also considering using winning percentages, instead of records, to determine playoff seeding.

Two days after the incident, in a Zoom call with the Bills on Wednesday, January 4, Damar Hamlin's father said that Hamlin was making progress. Providing hope that the Bills' final regular season game against the New England Patriots, on Sunday, January 8, would be played.

On January 5, Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam said that Hamlin was awake and doing better. The same day, the Bills released a statement saying "Damar has shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours" and "while still critically ill, he has demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact. His lungs continue to heal and he is making steady progress." Hamlin's docter said that Hamlin woke up, was able to follow commands and asked who won Monday night's game by communicating in writing. “When he asked, ‘Did we win?’ the answer is, ‘Yes, Damar, you won. You won the game of life,” his doctor said.

Reactions

Following the collapse, numerous NFL players and teams quickly offered their support and prayers on social media. Tee Higgins offered his condolences to Hamlin's family, as did Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and Penn State head coach James Franklin. The following day, all 32 NFL teams changed their profile pictures on Twitter to a picture of Hamlin's jersey and text that reads "Pray For Damar." Fans began gathering outside the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center following his collapse. The lights on Paycor Stadium, the location of the game, were lit blue in honor of Hamlin. The day after, the Washington Capitals held a moment of silence for Hamlin before their game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Anti-vaxxers and right-wing politicians exploited the incident to spread misleading conspiracy theories through vaccine disinformation and other false claims. Doctors who had witnessed the incident on television speculated that it could have potentially been a rare condition in which a high impact to the chest at a specific time in the heartbeat cycle can cause a cardiac arrest.