WGR

‘The emotion was there from the beginning. In pre game warmups members of both teams came out wearing shirts showing their support for Damar Hamlin. Hamlin himself was posting messages on his Instagram from his hospital bed in Cincinnati. One post was a picture of Hamlin with his parents as they prepared to watch the Bills game from Hamlin’s room at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.’

‘With safety Damar Hamlin heavy on the minds of many in Buffalo, the Bills were able to come away victorious with a 35-23 win over their AFC East rival. Not only did it help Buffalo end the season with a 13-3 overall record and a 7-1 record at home, it also eliminated the Patriots from playoff contention.’

‘”Going into the game, a lot of unknowns just not sure how the players are gonna handle it. I feel like I had a pretty good control on how I was gonna handle it but you never know. Then we come out with the first play there and it’s kinda surreal watching Nyheim score.”‘

‘”I think a little bit. Sitting there during the national anthem, some guys had some tears rolling down. Just a feeling of uncertainty of what it was going to feel like going back out there but Nyheim kinda put that to rest and our special teams helped out a lot with that.” Allen continued saying, “I think it was a pretty good complementary football game I know we threw three touchdowns and had three interceptions as well, it’s crazy.”‘

‘The Bills turned the ball over three times. One came on a fumble by Devin Singletary at their own nine-yard line. The other was an interception thrown by Josh Allen at the Patriots 15-yard line in a tie game. That led to New England taking the lead. A third came with 8:34 remaining in the game when Taiwan Jones had a punted ball go off his foot, allowing the Patriots to recover at the Bills 35 yard line.’

‘“It was obviously difficult and challenging, you never want to see a circumstance like that, with your player or anybody else. The most important thing was to allow our medical personnel – who are trained, practice, they have protocols for this exact scenario – I knew they were going to do the right things, medically.”’

‘The first contest went in favor of the Dolphins in Week 3, with Miami squeezing out a 21-19 win over the Bills in the sweltering South Florida sun. The next contest went in Buffalo’s favor, as the Bills got a walkoff game-winning kick from Tyler Bass to beat the Dolphins, 32-29, and clinch a playoff berth for a fourth-straight year.’

‘The Bills can’t let that emotion overwhelm them, and while they’ll want to use it to help propel them throughout the game, they’ll also need to stay focused on the task at hand against a Patriots team fighting to keep their season alive.’

‘In addition, the team says Hamlin’s neurologic function remains intact and has been able to talk to his family, care team, as well as his teammates over FaceTime. During his FaceTime with the team on Friday, he told the players and coaches on the call, “Love you boys.”‘

‘“We were able to Zoom and see Damar, he was able to gesture with more so with his hands, but we were able to hear him say ‘I love you boys’ to the team and the people in the room” McDermott also said that the call was brief but it was much needed for Damar and the team.’

‘Benford will be available to play for the Bills this week after being placed on Injured Reserve after their Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Detroit Lions due to an oblique injury.’

‘”I can’t say enough about what he did, what he said to us in the locker room,” Allen expounded. “Obviously, just a dire circumstance that nobody’s expecting, nobody’s ready for. You can never put yourself in that situation until it happens. … Coach handled it as perfect as anybody could.”‘

‘Had Monday’s game been completed, the winner would have had a shot at the No. 1 seed in the AFC (the Bills still do, while the Bengals do not). As a result, the league said it will play the AFC Championship Game at a neutral site if the participating teams played “an unequal amount of game and both could have been the No. 1 seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season.”’

‘While speaking to reporters via Zoom, Dr. Pritts and Dr. William Knight IV said the prompt recognition of his loss of a pulse led to immediate CPR performed by Bills medical and training staff. They said it was critical to not only saving Hamlin’s life, but keeping his neurological functions intact.’

‘The Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots both released their Thursday injury reports.’