The Buffalo Bills and the entire sports world received encouraging news on Thursday that Damar Hamlin has made “substantial” progress and is awake after suffering a cardiac arrest during Monday’s game against the Bengals.
Hamlin collapsed after making a tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins who made contact with Hamlin’s chest during the collision. Though it was a routine football play (and the injury’s cause hasn’t been determined), it hasn’t been an easy few days for Higgins just by being at the center of the play.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen wanted to make a point on Thursday that Higgins was absolutely not at fault for what happened to Hamlin. He didn’t want to end his press conference before he had a chance to speak about Higgins specifically.
Very classy move by Josh Allen, who made sure to say this before his press conference ended today: "People should not be attacking Tee Higgins whatsoever. Hopefully he found some relief today. I hope he doesn't hold that upon himself."
Well done. 👏pic.twitter.com/9YoyHnXhzp
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 5, 2023
Allen said:
“I do want to say one more thing. I haven’t reached out to Tee. I hope that he got some relief today. I saw some stuff on Twitter, and people should not be attacking him whatsoever. And I’m glad that Damar’s family came out and said that. Hopefully he found some relief today because, again, that’s a football play. And I hope that he doesn’t hold that upon himself because there’s nothing else that he could have done in that situation. So, I just wanted to say that too.”
As Allen mentioned, Hamlin’s family reached out to Higgins this week. During the Bengals’ media availability, Higgins said that he really appreciated hearing from Hamlin’s family.
Tee Higgins on his conversation with Damar Hamlin’s mom this morning and the importance of support from Damar’s parents: pic.twitter.com/bE70d7cKMH
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) January 5, 2023
Fans also thought that the message from Allen was a great gesture.
This was how Twitter reacted
I know it’s very easy to become cynical about everything in this day and age, but the amount of class shown by all parties involved with the Bengals and Bills organizations and fans has been really incredible to see. https://t.co/utWAQ8vObV
— nick (@burziyech) January 5, 2023
I want this guy to win a SB. https://t.co/54rJ73ilHj
— TicTacTitans (@TicTacTitans) January 5, 2023
Awesome job by Josh Allen today. https://t.co/vs4bUn8Mjd
— B (@BShulkes) January 5, 2023
The way Josh Allen has reacted and spoken this week, feels like he could be a key figure in mental health awareness.
A 6'5" bulldozer MVP-caliber NFL QB being so open about trauma and emotions would be great for people to see. https://t.co/3tGXFfjMwk
— Trenton Jocz (@TrentonJocz) January 5, 2023
In addition to obviously being locked into Damar updates, I've been thinking a lot about Tee Higgins this week. I hope Tee is doing alright. Just a football play and I can't imagine what he's gone through. https://t.co/b36bROl6Zc
— Ryan Mink (@ryanmink) January 5, 2023
Between Josh, Patrick Mahomes and others, the NFL has come incredible stars representing the league. https://t.co/w7MCOgnScC
— Evan Render (@evanrender) January 5, 2023
Absolutely. Tee Higgins is not to blame at all. Ludicrous that he's getting heat for a football play. https://t.co/F81777wD8W
— Drew C (@SportNewsNerd) January 5, 2023
Ok fine I’m a Josh Allen fan https://t.co/GPbuFR8dxr
— olivia ❄️ (@olivialeighrose) January 5, 2023
What a tremendous respect between these two teams and cities. Couldn’t be more proud of Cincinnati, the Bengals, coach Taylor, and all of Buffalo, the Bills players, and coach McDermott. This is a case study in sportsmanship https://t.co/AP5HPTiFRa
— Matt Stuckey (@ThunderStuck07) January 5, 2023
Great on Allen for speaking up about that. It needed to be said.
