Patriots Bill Belichick On Damar Hamlin Injury: ‘Life's Bigger Than This Game’
FOXBORO — With the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills scheduled to take the field at Highmark Stadium for a Week 18 matchup with significant playoff implications, Pats coach Bill Belichick took a moment to echo the sentiments of football fans everywhere.
"Life's bigger than this game," Belichick said. "It's just one of these humbling moments for all of us that stands out."
The moments to which Belichick referred surround the health of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. The second-year defensive back suffered cardiac arrest following a tackle during Buffalo’s Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin remains hospitalized in intensive care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center as of Thursday afternoon. However, recent updates indicate that the 24-year-old is showing “significant improvement” with regard to his condition.
"Damar Hamlin has been on everyone's minds and their thoughts since Monday night,” said Belichick, who spoke uninterrupted for nearly seven minutes on the subject. “Our entire team and organization, on behalf of them, I've extended our thoughts and prayers to the Bills organization, their team, and also coach [Zac] Taylor and the Bengals."
Belichick acknowledged being emotionally moved by the events of Monday night, recalling a similar situation he experienced in-person as an assistant coach with the New York Jets in 1997 to Detriot Lions receiver Reggie Brown.
“When I saw the situation, that reminded me very much [of when] we played the Lions in the last game of the year, and Reggie was injured,” Belichick recounted. “ It was kind of a normal play. Adrian Murrell carried the ball, got tackled, everybody got up, went back to the huddle. Reggie laid on the field, didn’t move and was unconscious for quite a while.
“The whole process took a long time, a half hour or so,” he continued. “He was given CPR, revived, and then put on the board and put on the ambulance and driven off the field in the Silverdome. Obviously, it was quite a lengthy process where the teams looked very much like the game Monday night — concern, and thought, and prayer, and kneeling and so forth. It was a very chilling game, one that I’ll obviously never forget.”
Brown was deemed to have suffered a spinal cord contusion in that game, forcing him to end his career.
Still, the coach’s voice took on a more optimistic tone when speaking about the recent positive developments regarding Hamlin’s status.
"Certainly the news from a little earlier this morning about Damar's progress is great news and encouraging news for all of us," Belichick said.
In the midst of concern, the Patriots and Bills are still on track for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff on Sunday in Orchard Park, NY. Both teams, and the NFL, have operated under the assumption that the game will be played as scheduled, despite league executive Troy Vincent remaining noncommittal regarding a possible postponement.
While acknowledging that the schedule may remain fluid for the time being, Belichick and his staff will continue to prepare the team for their Week 18 matchup to the best of their abilities.
“All of those questions are out of our control,” New England’s head coach said after delivering a long, thoughtful statement on Hamlin’s situation. “So, not going to worry about any of those. Trying to control what we can control, which is what we’re doing here and how we’re doing it.”
Though all parties involved would agree that the concern for Hamlin’s condition, as well as the health of safety of all players is (and should be) the only true concern, the 70-year-old did confess the challenges in handling an unprecedented situation such as this.
"I think we're all doing the best that we can, I think everyone else is probably doing the same thing, from whatever perspective they have on it," Belichick said. "And again, from talking to other people that are in this league or that have experienced something like this ... it's just a very, I don't think there's any easy answer to it. And you just deal with it the best that you can."
As such, leaning on former players and current coaches such as wide receivers coach Troy Brown and linebackers coach Jerod Mayo has been inordinately helpful to him when relating to his players.
"They've [Mayo and Brown] played this game at this level. I haven't … Their input and guidance has been especially valuable."
The Patriots will return to the fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium on Thursday afternoon for their second team practice of the week.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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