When you peel back the thick layers of emotion that have gripped the NFL for the past week — particularly in Buffalo — football games will be played on Sunday, the most notable of which involves the Bills and Patriots at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
It’s been a hell of a year for the Bills, who’ve endured like few NFL teams have when faced with the rash of adversity they have.
Historic snowstorms in the area have taken dozens of lives and have disrupted the team’s schedule, forcing it to play a home game in a neutral stadium. There was the sudden death of tight end Dawson Knox’s younger brother in August. There was a deadly supermarket shooting spree that rocked the region.
Then there was their beloved safety, Damar Hamlin, collapsing to the turf last Monday in Cincinnati, where his heart stopped after he made a tackle, forcing medical personnel to save his life on the field with CPR and leaving him in the hospital on life support.
The tragic and frightening Hamlin incident left the Bills — and many other players from other teams around the league — a lot less interested in playing football than they were before that game began.
But news of Hamlin’s remarkable recovery as this past week wore on — highlighted by him being taken off the ventilator, able to breathe on his own then speaking to his teammates via FaceTime on Friday — has buoyed the spirits of his teammates beyond belief.
“I love you boys,” Hamlin told them.
That, in many ways, provided as much relief as a release for his mates to get back to football.
Bills quarterback and team leader Josh Allen, asked if he believes the team is physically and emotionally ready to play again, told reporters: “I do.”
Allen spoke about an inspiring message Hamlin’s father, Mario, delivered to the team on Wednesday, telling them his son would want them to play.
“He demanded us [to play] … and you can’t not honor his request to go out there and charge forward,” Allen said.
“His message was the team needs to get back to focus on the goals they had set for themselves,’’ Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott said. “Damar would have wanted it that way. We owe that to Damar, and we owe that to his family.”
The game is a weird one in that the 12-3 Bills have less riding on the outcome of the game than the 8-8 Patriots, who have to win to qualify for the playoffs.
The Bills already have clinched their third consecutive AFC East title, but their chances of gaining the AFC’s top playoff seed were diminished because their game at Cincinnati was canceled as a result of the Hamlin injury, then dashed when the Chiefs beat the Raiders on Saturday to clinch the top spot at 14-3.
A win by the Patriots would clinch their 13th playoff berth in 14 seasons. But the Patriots are in a difficult situation, not only because Buffalo is the better team but because Highmark Stadium is going to be emotionally charged.
“Everybody individually will have to process it like we’ve been doing,’’ Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters during the week. “[We] expect it be an emotional scene and in the end, we’re going there to play our best football game. I think everybody understands there’s a balance and there’s multiple things going on there.”
McDermott said Belichick was among the many NFL coaches who reached out to him to provide support after Hamlin was hurt, saying, “I certainly appreciate his thoughts and prayers.”
Since Tom Brady left New England, the Bills are 5-1 against the Patriots, have outscored them 176-92 and by an average score of 29-15. Allen has thrown 15 touchdowns to only one interception in those games with a 114.2 passer rating while New England quarterbacks have thrown three TDs and four INTs with a 66.7 passer rating.
So, it figures to be a potentially difficult day on the field for the Patriots and an emotional day for all in the Buffalo area, where so much has happened in the past months.
“How do I know that we’ll be able to overcome?’’ McDermott said. “We have to … just like we’ve done many times before, and this city, and the people of Western New York that have dealt with what they’ve dealt with. That’s what you do. This is what Western New York and the fans of the Buffalo Bills … this is what we do.
"filled" - Google News
January 08, 2023 at 02:50PM
https://ift.tt/Xda7Rfp
Bills-Patriots will be filled with love and emotion for Damar Hamlin - New York Post
"filled" - Google News
https://ift.tt/yLEcfHl
https://ift.tt/52NWJyh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bills-Patriots will be filled with love and emotion for Damar Hamlin - New York Post"
Post a Comment