Dallas Cowboys offer prayers for Bills safety Damar Hamlin, Jerry Jones watched in fear
The Dallas Cowboys organization offered prayers and support for Buffalo Bills safety DeMar Hamlin. Many current and former players reacted with compassion and sympathy via social media.
Hamlin was treated by team and independent medical personnel and local paramedics before being taken by ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
The game was initially suspended with many of the players from both teams in tears and forming a prayer circle on the field.
The NFL announced more than an hour after the injury that the game would not resume.
“Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills. We will provide more information as it becomes available,” the league said in a statement. “The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association which is in agreement with postponing the game.”
The sports world reacted reacted quickly to Hamlin’s situation with many NFL players and teams offering their support.
The Cowboys were unison in offering prayers for Hamlin.
“Sending our thoughts and prayers to@HamlinIsland and the @BuffaloBills” read a tweet from the Cowboys official Twitter account.
Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett also chimed in on Twitter.
Lawrence said he was praying for a miracle.
Smith tweeted a prayer: “Lord, send your anointing and healing into the medical facility with Damar Hamlin, Doctor, and the family in Jesus’ name.”
And Dorsett, who like Hamlin grew up in the Pittsburgh area and also played football at the University of Pittsburgh, quote tweeted the Panthers’ official account.
“Join me in praying for complete healing for this young man. #H2P,” Dorsett wrote.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he was frightened by the scary situation like everyone else.
“I can’t remember watching a game (with that kind of fear),” Jones said on his weekly radio show on 105.3 The Fan. “It’s a concern for Damar’s family and his loved one, his teammates, that entire Bills organization, and really the Bengals as well. They were so much a part of it there. It was certainly the most different thing that I watched and relative to just the sincere outpouring of interest in Damar’s family’s wellbeing, and, of course, Damar.
“It was certainly the most different thing that I’ve ever watched. It was just real apparent to everybody involved, including ESPN and including the network that was involved. Everybody’s immediate care went exactly where it should be, and that is for him and his family and his teammates.”
Jones believes the care Hamlin received on the field may have saved his life.
And he believes the NFL handled the situation the right way in postponing the game. And how the league moves forward is not at the forefront of his list of concerns.
“I never got the feeling that there was but one thing in everybody’s mind there, and that was his care, the sensitivity of his teammates, the sensitivity of the players on the field with him; just a complete direction of concern and direction of importance toward his health,” Jones said.
“We haven’t had any chance to digest any information as to what was agreed upon regarding that game. But certainly the right decision was made relative to the health and wellbeing of all the family and certainly [Damar] Hamlin himself, but all of the right decisions were made regarding the consideration of family, fans, and of everyone involved.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
