Getty Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
The NFL world moved ahead January 3 with heavy hearts as the Buffalo Bills‘ Damar Hamlin remained in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital after suffering cardiac on the field during Monday Night Football.
Some teams chose not to address the media, but Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin went ahead with his usual weekly press conference. But it was anything but usual. After a 10-minute opening statement, Tomlin discussed his relationship with Hamlin, a 2021 sixth-round NFL draft pick from nearby McKees Rocks who attended the University of Pittsburgh.
“I’ll say this about Damar Hamlin. Man, it’s a really personal thing for me being a Pittsburgher,” Tomlin told reporters. “And that young man being a Pittsburgher, I’ve known that guy, probably since he was about 12.”
Tomlin rarely shows emotion at the podium, but the weight of the situation was visible on his face and in his eyes.
“I just got a lot of respect and love for him as a human being, his commitment to the pursuit of his goals and dreams of doing what it is he’s doing right now, which is playing in the NFL, and to watch him make personal decisions and make that a realization,” he said.
“It’s just an honor to get to know young people like that,” Tomlin said. “Had an opportunity to express that to him, whenever I see him. We’ve played Buffalo each of the last two seasons, and he and I get to have a moment because it’s just cool to not only appreciate these guys in terms of where they are now, but to know them since they were younger people and to watch their maturation and their development, to watch them, you know, earn what they’ve been chasing. It’s just really a cool thing. And he’s an example of that I got a lot of love for that young man.”
This was one of the moments Coach Tomlin was referring to earlier this season in Buffalo.
Coach said it’s an honor to get to know young people like Damar who made their dreams a reality, and he previously expressed that sentiment to him.
Tomlin declined to field questions about Hamlin after his statement, choosing instead to focus on the forthcoming critical Cleveland Browns matchup.
Bills’ Damar Hamlin Suffered Cardiac Arrest After Making a Tackle
After tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins with 5:58 remaining in the first quarter of the prime-time Monday Night Football matchup, Hamlin stood briefly before collapsing to the field.
Hamlin took a helmet to the chest in the collision and was down for more than 10 minutes. As medical personnel attended to Hamlin and administered CPR, players from the Bills and Bengals gathered, some kneeling in prayer, visibly emotional.
Entire Bills team down on their knees in a group prayer as Damar Hamlin leaves the field in an ambulance.
Hamlin’s cardiac event, which occurred around 8:55 p.m. Eastern time, led to an hour-plus delay before the NFL released a statement shortly after 10 p.m. postponing the game and announcing Hamlin was in “critical condition.” In the team’s first official update at 1:48 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, the Bills confirmed Hamlin “suffered a cardiac arrest” and was in critical condition.
Nearly 12 hours later, at 1:23 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, the Bills organization shared a second update, confirming Hamlin remains in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center’s intensive care unit.
Damar Hamlin spent last night in the intensive care unit and remains there today in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
We are grateful and thankful for the outpouring of support we have received thus far.
As all organizations have, the Steelers sent their thoughts and prayers to the Hamlin family and the Bills organization.
According to Tim Benz of TribLive, Tomlin said he’s “not anticipating scheduling issues” with Week 18 games. The NFL hasn’t made a final decision on the completion of the Bills-Bengals contest, only sharing on January 3 that it “will not resume this week.” It is not yet known whether the game will resume at a later date.
Damar Hamlin’s GoFundMe Toy Drive Raising Millions in Donations
A community toy drive started by Damar Hamlin as a rookie in 2021 is going viral for all the right reasons, with the public flooding the GoFundMe page with donations in the aftermath of Hamlin’s on-field collapse.
The fund, which had an initial goal of raising $2,500, has surpassed over $4.5 million in donations as of 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, January 3.
“If you would like to show your support and contribute to Damar’s community initiatives and his current fight, this is the place to do so. This is the only current fund that is being used by the Hamlin Family,” the page reads.
Several NFL players, including Saints QB Andy Dalton and San Francisco 49ers QB Trey Lance and RB Christian McCaffrey, are among the more than 150,000 people to have donated.