Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field during a “Monday Night Football” contest three weeks ago, attended his first NFL game Sunday since recovering from the near-fatal cardiac arrest incident.
The Bills posted a video on social media showing Hamlin, wearing sunglasses and a ski mask, arriving at his team’s locker room before its AFC divisional round contest against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Welcome home, @HamlinIsland,” the Bills tweeted, alongside two red and blue heart emojis.
Hamlin cheered on his team from home last week as the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins 34-31 in their AFC wild-card round matchup.
Hamlin, 24, had to be resuscitated twice by medical officials on the field and in the hospital after he suffered a cardiac arrest episode after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during the first quarter of the “Monday Night Football” contest. Hamlin stood up after the play was over, only to collapse to the ground a few seconds later.
Hamlin, a former University of Pittsburgh standout, was recently discharged from the Buffalo General Medical Center, where he was transferred after being released from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Medical officials said they were “confident” Hamlin could recover from home after undergoing a series of tests and evaluations.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that Hamlin has been visiting his teammates regularly since being released from the hospital, describing it as “dipping his toe back in here and getting on the road to just getting back to himself.”
Hamlin’s return to the Bills stadium brought additional emotion to the playoff rematch of the game in which he was injured. The NFL canceled the Bills-Bengals regular-season game after the injury and adjusted its playoff schedule due to the incident.
The CBS broadcast of Sunday’s game repeatedly showed Hamlin cheering on the team from a sky box.