Damar Hamlin Attends Bengals-Bills NFL Playoff Game – The New York Times

The regular-season game between the Bills and Bengals was suspended after Hamlin’s collapse, which occurred at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter. The N.F.L. canceled the game three days later.

“That experience, we’ll carry that with us,” McDermott said at a news conference. “There’s a challenge to that, but there’s also a lot of good that came from that. And I think right now we need to focus on the positive, and the positives that came out of that, as opposed to the other piece of it.”

Hamlin’s marketing representative, Jordon Rooney, told The Associated Press on Thursday night that Hamlin still faces a lengthy rehabilitation. After his collapse, Hamlin spent nearly a week in the intensive care unit at a Cincinnati hospital, where he was intubated for about three days. Hamlin’s neurological function is intact and he is able to walk and talk, but the doctors who cared for him in Cincinnati said recovery from a life-threatening event like the one Hamlin endured can take weeks or months.

“Damar still requires oxygen and is having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks or after effects,” Rooney said in a statement. “Though he is able to visit the team’s facility, Damar is not in position to travel often, and requires additional rest to help his body heal.”

Bills safety Jordan Poyer said in a news conference last week that the biggest emotional hurdle for Hamlin’s teammates to clear was playing the New England Patriots six days after Hamlin’s collapse, in their final game of the regular season. He said Hamlin’s presence around the team since then “brings everybody’s spirits up.”

As the Bills face the team against whom the near tragedy happened, Hamlin will be in the building to provide that boost for what is his team’s biggest game of the season yet.