N.F.L.’s Storybook Weekend Can’t Erase Memory of Hamlin’s Collapse

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As Nyheim Hines of the Buffalo Bills cradled a kickoff on Sunday and scooted across the cold field and then down the sideline, a 96-yard touchdown on the first play of this emotion-drenched game, you could feel Highmark Stadium rumble and sway — fans letting loose of this past week’s fear and hope in a stunning moment of community catharsis.

Whew. Talk about a storybook beginning.

The N.F.L. is an unalterable narrative machine. More than any other sports league in America, and probably the world, it possesses a seemingly unparalleled ability to cast off bad news, survive and even thrive. Even as the league swims in controversy, there is another human drama to draw fans in each week, causing the latest obstacle to fade away.

And in the Bills’ game against the New England Patriots on Sunday, the story got only more heartwarming. Damar Hamlin, the lucky-to-be-alive player to whom this game had been dedicated, watched from his Cincinnati hospital bed, providing real-time commentary.

Via social media, we got to see him react to his teammates’ emotional play.

Commenting on Hines’s kick return, Hamlin, who wears No. 3, posted, “God Behind All this No Coincidence.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/sports/football/bills-first-game-hamlin.html