As the Bills prepare to close the regular season on Sunday, it stands to wonder how mentally prepared the team will be in the wake of safety Damar Hamlin’s frightening collapse on Monday Night Football.
Hamlin, 24, has spent the last few days hospitalized in critical condition but has displayed signs of progress in his recovery from suffering cardiac arrest in the first quarter against the Bengals. On Thursday, Buffalo released a statement announcing Hamlin has shown “remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours” and appears to be “neurologically intact,” signifying an encouraging step forward for the second-year pro following his medical emergency.
On the same day as the announcement, Bills coach Sean McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen held their weekly media availability, where both shared that learning of Hamlin’s improvement provided a sense of relief for the team. And when asked if the Bills will be ready to host the Patriots come Sunday, neither McDermott or Allen hesitated to let the world know they’ll be prepared.
“I do,” Allen said quickly.
“I do, as well,” added McDermott. “The news we received today, in particular, was a huge lift.”
Allen and McDermott went on to note that another factor fueling the Bills’s drive toward Sunday is a conversation the team had with Hamlin’s father, Mario, via Zoom on Wednesday. Allen said that Mario told players that his son expressed to him that he wants the Bills to play, and “demanded” the team to press on in Damar’s honor.
“We want to go out there and play for 3,” Allen said. “Obviously we’ll be playing with less heavy hearts now. Today’s news was a lot of tears of joy, I’ll tell you that.
“Mario talking to us as a team and the things that he told us - and really didn’t tell us he demanded us - you can’t not honor his request to go out there and charge forward to the best of our abilities.”
Added McDermott, “I feel strongly as Mario mentioned, that this is what Damar wants and we owe that to Damar and owe that to his family.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the latest update regarding Hamlin’s condition came from Dr. Timothy Pritts of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where the safety has been since Monday night. Pritts announced Hamlin is still using a breathing tube, but he has been able to communicate by writing since Wednesday night.
