Almost nine months after Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field due to a cardiac arrest, the Buffalo Bills’ safety made his season debut Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
For the first three games of the season, Hamlin was listed as inactive for the Buffalo Bills. By walking into the field Sunday afternoon, he officially completed his return to the game after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing against the Cincinnati Bengals in January.
The Bills cruised to a 48-20 victory over the Dolphins, per the Associated Press (AP). “Really big. That moment was everything to me,” Hamlin said after winning the game. (RELATED: REPORT: College Football Player Collapses At Practice And Had To Be Revived, Rushed To Hospital)
It’s go time. 🫶#MIAvsBUF | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/5nmAotOV1W
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 1, 2023
“I think it was more so about promising to myself than anything else, just showing myself that I have the courage, I have the strength, that I have the pride, everything, all those words, in me to be able to go through something traumatic and to be able to come back from it,” he said, according to the AP. “To be able to still do what I love at the highest level in the world is amazing.”
The team posted a video of Hamlin being hugged by his Bills teammates before he ran onto the field prior to the game. He then went to the stands behind the far end zone and screamed to the fans, “Let’s go!”