The NFL Cancels the Bills-Bengals Game: After Hamlin’s Collapse, Football Players and Athletic Figures

Football players, NBA teams and athletic figures across all sports came together to support Hamlin after he had a cardiac arrest during a Monday night game.

Bills players came to the sideline for help. Hamlin was down for around 10 minutes and the medical staff appeared to give him cardiopulmonary assist before he died.

In its announcement of the official cancellation of the Bills-Bengals game that was suspended after Hamlin’s collapse, the NFL detailed parts of its decision-making, including that the outcome of the game would have no impact on teams qualifying for the playoffs.

Since I’ve been a player, I’ve never seen anything like it. “So immediately, my player hat went on. How do you return to play after you have witnessed such a traumatic event?

There is a Bills player at the University of Cincinnati Hospital where Hamlin is being treated.

Hamlin played a bit as a first round pick, but came on strong as a starter after Hyde was hurt.

According to his Pittsburgh Panthers player bio, he was redshirted – meaning he sat out on games while remaining on the team – in 2016 due to injury. The site stated that he missed time due to injuries.

“We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL. The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being,” the players association said.

Football Coach Michael Hamlin: “It’s a real deal” and “has to be real,” he told reporters after the Lakers game

“It’s definitely the right call,” he said after the Lakers game against the Charlotte Hornets Monday night, adding, “The safety of players in all sports is always the most important. It was a terrible thing to see.”

The fact that we didn’t have to come back out on the field and play is a testament to how caring people are, he said. People just treat us like athletes, superstars and celebrities but in that moment they treat us like real people.

Well wishes and prayers were sent by several star athletes, including Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, and free agent Odell Beckham Jr.

Football fans of both teams, meanwhile, were gathering at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center early Tuesday morning, holding a vigil for Hamlin.

This is a good turning point in his care, he said, but there are many steps still ahead of him. Hamlin’s next big milestone will be breathing on his own without a ventilator, said Dr. William Knight, director of emergency medicine. Knight said tests were still being conducted to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest.

Social media began to flood in with Condolences. A toy drive that Hamlin started for children in need two years ago has received more than a million dollars in donations, all of which exceeded its $2,500 goal.

The family of Hamlin thanked first responders, medical professionals, the football teams and fans around the country in a statement released Tuesday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams wants all New Yorkers to pray for Hamlin and his family.

The Pittsburgh Cowboys Patriots – Where I Come From, What I Wanna Do, and How I Went to Win,” said A.J. Hamlin

The 24-year-old’s collapse — which happened in the first quarter, after he collided with a Bengals player — brought a rare early halt to the game and left onlookers both on and off the field distraught.

“As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me,” he said.

He made a name for himself in high school, leading his team to a 15-1 record, a WPIAL Class AAAA championship and PIAA state title in his senior year. Recruitment sites Rivals and 247Sports named Hamlin the top-rated defensive player in Pennsylvania and several Division 1 football schools pursued him.

I was just so happy in Pittsburgh. Everything was Pittsburgh for me,” he said. I wanted to give the city a reason to smile and I wanted to give my city a reason to brag.

He has played in all 15 games so far, tallying 91 tackles (tied for second-most on the Bills), six tackles for loss, two pass breakups and 1.5 sacks this season.

Hour-by-hour, day-by-day, the emotion and concern for Hamlin’s health swelled like an ocean – the players and coaches of 32 teams, as well as NFL fans, anxiously waiting for any updates on the Bills safety’s wellbeing.

Hamlin said that he cherishes it every second that he can. “Every second of every day. We just had our prayer, our DB prayer we do every Wednesday. He was next to me and I just grabbed his hand a little bit harder just because you know you never know when your last day could be that you get to experience something like this. I’m cherishing every moment that I can.”

“My mom, my dad, my little brother, like that’s pretty much my whole world, outside of any other thing going on; my life revolves around them,” he said. My parents’ opinion is the main reason I don’t do a lot. Either I take or I don’t. sometimes I just want to hear it.”

Years earlier, Hamlin told the Globe that he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh for college in part to be a role model for his brother, who was 2 years old at the time, and cited his parents as his personal role models.

After watching Hamlin collapse, Godsey recalled how he was close to his parents and had his brother on his lap in a media session several years ago.

Hamlin wrote on the page that he created the Chasing M’s Foundation to give back to his community, which was also the home to the Chasing M’s clothing brand.

The NFL Needs To Turn On The Football Ball Game. Tee Higgins, Joe Buck, Ben Baby, and Joe Burrow, witnessed on the media after Hamlin’s injury

In the aftermath of Hamlin’s collision with Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, one NFL-affiliated account after another tweeted that we must not watch the replay of the hit. It is too graphic, disturbing, and disrespectful.

During timeouts, the broadcast repeatedly cuts to commercials. The emergency medical staff helped the stricken athlete and when the program resumed, the players cried openly. Joe Buck was stunned into silence along with everyone else.

“There’s nothing to say right now”, Buck said at one point, as the cameras showed the Bills coach and his players crying and shaking their heads.

9 p.m. — An ambulance was seen backing rapidly across the field toward Hamlin at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium, in a video posted by local sports reporter Joe Danneman of local TV station FOX 19.

“The whole team is out on the field right now,” he said. Several players are kneeling on the ground, some are holding hands. You can just see the worried looks on their faces.”

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow and other Bengals also gathered near midfield. After minutes of hushed quiet in the stadium, brief applause broke out when Hamlin was seen on a stretcher.

The woman sent a text to her 53-year-old son after Hamlin’s injury last night. YOU NEED TO TURN ON THE FOOTBALL GAME. A person has died.

“I have zero clue how anybody is expected to continue playing this game,” The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., who is based in Cincinnati, tweeted. “That was frightening.”

Ben Baby said that players were coming back onto the field, and it appeared the game was going to continue. Burrow’s helmet was on while he threw the warm up passes.

“They’ve been given 5 minutes to, quote unquote, get ready to go back to playing,” Buck said of the situation. Nobody’s moving, that’s the thing we get from the league and the thing we get from down on the field.

“However, coaches Zac Taylor and Sean McDermott met and brought both of their teams back to their locker rooms,” the station said. “They were seen in the tunnel between locker rooms meeting with the game officials and passing a phone to each other. Shortly after that phone call, the league announced play was to be suspended indefinitely.”

9:29 p.m. — “Zac Taylor just walked to the Bills locker room area and is waiting outside,” reported Danneman, who said that Taylor met with the referees with him.

Bengals’ Timing Rules: “It Never crossed my mind to get Warmed up to resume play,” said Gary Garafolo

The local TV station which broadcasted the game noted that the five-minute warm up was standard procedure after most delays.

The station also said that before the game was formally suspended, Burrow and other Bengals players had left their home locker room to join Bills players in the visitors’ facility.

12:17 a.m. Tuesday — During a conference call with reporters, Troy Vincent, an executive vice president of football operations, said that despite reports, the league never sought to resume the game.

“There was no time period for the players to get warmed up,” Vincent said, according to Garafolo. “It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. That is not a place we should be in.

Hamlin would be resuscitated twice that night – once on the field and again when he was hurried into the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was still being treated Tuesday night, his uncle said.

“I’m not a crier, but I’ve never cried so hard in my life. Just to know, like, my nephew basically died on the field and they brought him back to life,” Glenn said.

Dawkins: “I know how terrible is Hamlin’s situation but what can we do now,” he told CNN in the Buffalo Patriots Network

Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins said he realized the gravity of Hamlin’s situation when Hamlin continued to stay on the ground.

You think in that moment, “What can I do?” What can we do? Dawkins told CNN that it broke him down into prayer. Even if you are a believer, a higher power can take control of what is next. And our people that help also assisted that higher power.”

Hamlin is the latest in a series of tragedies that struck the community of Buffalo and its beloved football team, including a racist mass shooting and historic storm that left 41 people dead in New York.

It may be difficult for some players to return to action following Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, as they could have experienced their first “existential” awakening to their own mortality.

When the heart doesn’t beat quickly, fluid can get back up into the lungs and it can be hard for medical staff to provide oxygen to the patient. So, they will flip the person on their stomach into a prone position to make breathing easier.

He said that you can decrease demand by sedating someone, if you keep them on a breathing machine. “Sometimes they’ll even use cooling agents, hypothermia it’s called, to basically almost put the body in more of a hibernation-like state so it’s not demanding as much oxygenated blood. That is part of the reason he would be on a breathing machine.

Fifty-two Years of Football: The Bills-Bengals Game in the Light of Hamlin’s Decay

On behalf of the family, we want to express our gratitude to the people that have supported us during this difficult time. We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words, and donations from fans around the country,” the statement said.

In the past, a Monday night game wouldn’t have been called off. Coaches would’ve said, “alright fellas, buckle up and get back on that field and lock in. It’s good to play on. But that didn’t happen.

Fifty-two years after the Hughes tragedy, the Bills-Bengals game was rightly suspended after Hamlin’s collapse. And as Hamlin—24-year-old Pittsburgh native and a man described as “charitable,” “endearing,” “loving” by those who know him—fights for life, we should hope for a full recovery. Asking real questions about the sport that many of us adore seems reasonable, even though the NBA hates it and the NFL hates it.

It has been a long time since the club had a home game in November and was stuck in Chicago for the holidays, but with Hamlins hospitalization, it has been a constant worry for everyone associated with the club.

Chuck Hughes was in trouble, and he wasn’t gonna be the last folk hero when he was born: CNN’s Detroit Free Press catches up with the harrowing image

Jeff Pearlman is the author of 10 books including his newest, “The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson.” The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

It exists, in the archives of the Detroit Free Press, a harrowing black-and-white image that found itself atop page 1D of the Oct. 25, 1971 morning newspaper.

Within 10 minutes of Hughes being loaded onto a gurney, Greg Landry completed a 12-yard pass to CharlieSanders. Afterward, members of both teams were horrified (“I wish they called the game off,” Chicago’s Bob Wallace said), but had little say. There were many fans in the stadium. There was a title to be fought for. There were paychecks to be cashed.

Wrote George Puscas, the Free Press’ executive sports editor: “From the moment Dick Butkus, the huge Chicago Bears linebacker, began waving frantically at the Lions’ bench, it was obvious that Chuck Hughes was in serious trouble.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/opinions/damar-hamlin-chuck-hughes-nfl-reality-pearlman/index.html

DAMARMAL HOUGHSNESS: A REAL FEATURE THEORY OF THE NFL REALITY PEARLMAN

The National Football League has a lot of soda. And potato chips. It is the land of $169 embroidered jerseys and $59 hats, both available now at NFL.com! If you order asap, you’ll get free shipping. It’s the land of gambling apps and fantasy leagues; of shiny helmets and colorful uniforms and scantily clad cheerleaders and adults dressed as foamy barnyard animals. The NFL exists to entice your senses and pull your dollars and bring your suppressed aggressions to life every Sunday afternoon. It is very loud. And POW! and POP!

When, in 1971, Hughes was removed from the field, league officials knew he was dead (“We reached him and there was no pulse,” said Dr. Richard A. Thompson, an osteopath on the scene), then took all of 10 minutes to decide the action must continue.

Some of the fans who agree with this are trying to show respect, but coming from NFL-associated voices, it started to sound too much like unofficial/official dogma: Drink your Pepsi. Eat your Tostitos. The finger is made of foam. Don’t focus on the carnage.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/opinions/damar-hamlin-chuck-hughes-nfl-reality-pearlman/index.html

Damar and Sharon Hamlin — two actual people with real off-the-field lives and endeavors — remembering the awfulness behind the glitz

But maybe, just maybe, we need to see the reality behind the glitz in all its awful detail. These are actual people, with off-the-field lives and off-the-field endeavors. Hamlin is a family member. He started his own toy drive for kids from his old neighborhood in the Pittsburgh metro area. The Pittsburgh journalist wrote about a kind young man.

Brandon Hughes was only one when his father died on the surface of Tiger Stadium, but as soon as he saw what happened to Damar Hamlin, the emotions hit hard. “Everything they were saying was so familiar to me,” Brandon, an employee at a mutual fund company, told me. “But they kept talking about how this is unprecedented, how that is unprecedented. I was not sure if that was true. It is not. Not at all.’”

Sharon was Brandon Hughes’ mother, who died at 24. She was sad by the uncertainty of Hamlin’s future and the familiar echoes of past tragedy.

The Cincinnati Colts Safety, Rodney Thomas II, went to the hospital after Hamlin’s collapse early in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals

Doctors will look for any potential congenital or other abnormalities with Hamlin’s heart, he said. Every player gets a physical before each season, and doctors take a detailed medical history, which includes American Heart Association screening guidelines related to potential cardiac issues.

I think that the medical team, Buffalo Bills and the ancillary help that was available in Cincinnati responded in a manner that was evident to me. And hopefully if there is a medical emergency at any NFL game that a response like that can be replicated,” said Drezner.

Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II drove directly to the Cincinnati hospital where Hamlin lay sedated following his on-field collapse early in Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The pair, who became close friends while teammates at their Pittsburgh high school, spoke daily and had talked earlier Monday before Hamlin’s collapse. Thomas said he was calmed down by seeing his friend. It made it easier to go home. I could go home and know he’s gonna be straight. I got him. All of us got him. Everyone is behind him.

When the Buffalo Sabres lost their first game on Monday Night Football, Damar Hamlin was seriously injured in the horrific incident he fell onto the turf

The showdown averaged over 20 million viewers on TV, making it the most watched game of the season. After Hamlin’s collapse, viewership grew to a historic 23.9 million, making the telecast the most watched “Monday Night Football” in ESPN history.

“You have to have the right type of blow hitting at the right spot on the chest with the right amount of force at just the right time in that cardiac cycle. So a lot of things have to line up for that to happen,” he said, emphasizing that while it is possible, investigators will consider all options.

The medical staff should meet with the officials an hour prior to the game to make sure everyone is on the same page.

A high-ranking official within the Bills organization told CNN’s Coy Wire that they broke down in tears after day and night-long meetings on Tuesday, sobbing because of the heaviness of the situation.

The team has tried to be a good source of strength for the city as a result of all the difficult blows they have experienced, a source tells Wire.

Tage Thompson performed well for the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, which the source says was aglimer of hope at a time the team needs inspiration.

Hamlin’s jersey number, 3, was a recurring motif throughout the game, played on January 3. Thompson scored 3 goals during overtime to give the Sabres a win. Thompson scored his third goal in the third minute of overtime and his third hat trick of the season.

“How in the world were we living in a world where a player was tragically paralyzed during a game, and minutes later, the whistles blew, and the game played on as if nothing had happened?”

That’s what my wife asked me in 2007, after she witnessed a tragic scene at a game in which I was playing for the Buffalo Bills. Kevin was injured after colliding with another player on a kickoff and fell limp into the turf. She was one of the 70,000+ fans in the stadium who watched on in silence as Kevin fought for his life. An emergency procedure likely saved his life. He never played again.

That’s why, as the horrific scene unfolded on Monday night – when Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed to the turf, and as tears came pouring down players’ faces as they prayed around him on bended knees – I started to feel nauseous just like my wife did that day in Buffalo years ago. Mental wounds were reopened as haunting memories came flooding back in.

During my playing days at Stanford University, my teammate and fellow running back, Kerry Carter, collided with University of Washington player Curtis Williams, who ran up to make a tackle. The person was trapped in the neck. Players cried, prayed, then played on. 18 months later, two days after his 24th birthday, Curtis died due to complications from the paralysis suffered that day. My teammate still has a bad memory of that collision.

Kerry told me that it was going to take some time for everyone involved to come to terms with what happened. We were able to continue playing even though it was crazy to think about.

We used to be conditioned to protect ourselves from the physical and mental pain of others. We learned not to focus on the negative because it can hinder optimal performance. Whenever something bad happened we were trained to fight on with a next play mentality. We didn’t know what happened when we played on, despite tragic injuries.

We can’t overstate how impactful it was for the head coaches, Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills and Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals, league commissioner Roger Goodell and others to make the decision to end that game. We don’t comprehend the impact that decision may have.

They were concerned about the mental health of their players. After seeing the teary eyes and traumatized looks on their players’ faces, they determined it wasn’t worth trying to continue that game.

Dion Dawkins told CNN, “I’m truly blessed that we didn’t have to keep playing.” Athletes are treated as superstars by most people. In that moment, some people treated us like they were people.

Some people think the players should have continued playing. You don’t have to search very long on social media to find that some people care more about their fantasy football team’s performance than the health and well-being of their fellow man. I guess that’s to be expected. That’s the way it’s always been.

UCMC physician Timothy Pritts said that he has made substantial improvement since the injury but that they had significant concern about him after the injury.

The Teddy Bear Hamlin Jr., 21, was born in February 1993, and his football team, Mario Higgins, told reporters Wednesday morning after his collapse

Hamlin can communicate by shaking his head, nodding or writing something down, according to Dr. Timothy Pritts. Upon awakening, Pritts said, Hamlin’s mind was still on the game as he scribbled his first question on a clipboard: “Did we win?”

He expressed surprise that he had not been with the world for a couple days and we talked about the team’s support of him and his family, William Knight IV said.

Hamlin’s father, Mario Hamlin, addressed the Buffalo Bills team on a Zoom call Wednesday to let everyone that Hamlin was making progress, ESPN reported.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell informed all clubs of his decision Thursday after contacting the Bills, Bengals and NFL Players Association leadership, according to a release from the league.

Bills quarterback Allen said that while “people are going to be changed forever” from what took place on Monday, he thinks “putting that helmet back on was a really good thing for our team and just to go through that process.”

News of Hamlin awakening was met with a rush of messages of support and relief from players across the NFL. Since his collapse, supporters have honored the player, donating more than $7 million to his charity fundraiser and making his jersey the most purchased athletes’ jersey at the sports apparel store Fanatics, a company spokesperson said.

“I hope that he got some relief today,” Allen said of Higgins while speaking to reporters Thursday. He said there was nothing he could have done in that situation and that he hoped that he wouldn’t hold that onto himself.

Doctors and Bills team members have applauded the action of medical personnel who rushed to Hamlin after he collapsed.

Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins tweeted Thursday that assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington performed CPR on Hamlin as he lay on the field. Coach McDermott also praised the trainer Thursday, saying he saved Hamlin’s life.

“As they say, practice pays off and it did in this case,” McDermott said at a post-practice news conference devoted to Hamlin. The courage and action that the assistant took in stepping up and taking charge, was nothing short of amazing, and he had others on the field with him.

A Conversation with Brandon McDermott: Cardiac Arrest, CPR, and Other Phenomenology in the Bills and Bengals

The cancellation will have no effect on which teams qualify for the playoffs, as both the Bills and Bengals have already secured spots. But the imbalance in number of games played has prompted the league to approve unprecedented provisions for the postseason based on how the Bills and Bengals are seeded and their potential opponents.

For an assistant to get to the position that he’s in, and need to step up and take charge, like he did, is just amazing, said McDermott during his news conference Thursday.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart is not pumping blood, so there is nooxygen traveling to the brain or other organs. Seconds matter: The longer a person goes without oxygen, the chances of organ damage increase, and the chances of survival decrease. CPR mimics a pumping heart, which keeps blood flowing, and a defibrillator shocks the heart, which can cause it to start beating again.

Kellington has been a member of the training staff for the Bills. Kellington has been an athletic trainer for 11 years at Syracuse University, six of which he spent as the head athletic trainer for the football team. He worked at Ohio State University as a graduate student athletic trainer.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/sport/denny-kellington-bills-damar-hamlin-cpr/index.html

The Bengals had their day in front of their Buffalo Bills counterpart at the Paycor Stadium. A few days after Hamlin was admitted to the hospital

A few seconds later, another voice says, “We’re going to need everybody. All call, all call.” Within the minute, several other cries go out for all personnel to rush to the field.

The Bills opened their news conference Thursday with a note of gratitude for the first responders on the field and the medical team at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

After Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital, Cincinnati Bengals fans embraced their Buffalo Bills counterparts in the Paycor Stadium, men and women broke into tears, while others prayed.

Michael Addis, professor in the department of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, told CNN Sports that what we’ve witnessed over the last few days shows the sport’s evolution, a development he attributes to changing views of masculinity where men are allowed to “experience emotional vulnerability.”

“I believe that it is a sign that we are more prepared to acknowledge emotional and physical health problems in men because, of course, all that kind of traditional laws of masculinity teach us to hide that.”

Allen said they had some very open and honest talks. Some embraces are not weird at all, they are just hugging somebody and leaning into them. You need every bit of it, it has been a lot of that going around.

Getting Back to Business Early: How Players and Fans Can Embrace the Phenomenology of Trauma Responses in the NFL

Getting back to business is what it is for some people. And it’s a healthy distraction from what they’re experiencing,” said Addis. “For other people, there’s no way that they’re going to get back to business so early.”

“Personally, I think playing is going to be tough, but there’s people that want to play, too, and there’s people that don’t. I would probably want to play.

I think getting back to normal as quickly as possible is how I deal with these kinds of things. But like I said, everyone has a different way of dealing with it.”

The players are used to seeing broken bones. They are used to concussion protocols. The play came very close to ending in a player’s death.

For the players, fans, and all of them, this is a time when the risk of trauma responses is real.

Over the last few years, the sporting world has become more conscious about athletes’ mental health, but as the NFL season nears its conclusion, Addis questions if players will have the time and the space to process their emotions.

I am curious to know how this plays out, because I think the institution of the sport is not ready to be so flexible about this as the players might need.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/07/sport/damar-hamlin-nfl-response-spt-intl/index.html

The NFL Players Association Announces the First Game of the Season with a Unified View of Heart Disease and Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases

That readiness to act quickly in the face of an emergency is the result of long hours of planning and preparation, according to Dr. Jonathan A. Drezner, who is director of the University of Washington’s medicine center for sports cardiology and team physician for the Seattle Seahawks.

Planning for the “what if” is what it is. And so I think within the NFL, we actually have quite a robust emphasis on being prepared,” added the Seahawks team physician.

Before the NFL season starts, players are subjected to annual electrocardiograms in an attempt to identify preexisting heart conditions, according to Drezner.

“Most sudden cardiac arrest in young competitive athletes is from a preexisting heart condition. These are the types of heart condition that screening can find, but there is nothing perfect about it.

To hear him talk to us was everything we were looking for. Dion Dawkins said that the team’s Friday video call with Hamlin was the only thing they needed.

Hamlin had his breathing tube removed before Friday morning after he woke up late this week, physicians have said.

Hamlin flexed his arms and made a heart-shaped hand gesture Friday during a call with his teammates, according to Sean McDermott, who added that the player wanted to say ‘Love you boys’.

The league will return to competition on Saturday and Sunday after an emotional hiatus, and fans will continue to show their support. Hamlin is going to be honored before each game.

Players also have the option to wear shirts emblazoned with “Love for Damar 3” during warmups and the Bills will wear “3” patches on their jerseys, the NFL said.

The unified message of support was praised by Bills general manager Brandon Beane who stayed in Cincinnati to be with Hamlin and his family.

“Yeah, we go to battle. But in the end, life is the number one battle,” Beane said Friday. It is rare to see unity from players, coaches, general managers, owners and fans. I think it is a good light. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel on the National Football League. The NFL is truly a family.”

The league players association named Hamlin its Community Most Valuable Player of the week 18 and will make a donation to his foundation.

Philadelphia Eagles running back Miles Sanders said he was able to video chat with Hamlin, telling him, “You know you’re the most famous person in the world right now?”