Just hours after what may be the lowest moment in NFL history, Aaron Rodgers gave Pat McAfee a heartfelt statement on Damar Hamlin’s injury. Aaron Rodgers may have had the best reaction to the traumatic event. “I don’t think you just gloss it over like, Oh, on to the Sunday Night Football play-in game for the playoffs. Let’s take a little timeout here. Let’s remember what’s really important.” Rodgers said, “I just think you maybe have an open forum to allow guys to share their emotions. I think as men; sometimes, we’re conditioned to suppress everything, just to put on a good face and say, ‘We’re going to tough through this.’ I don’t really think that’s the approach.”
“I just think you maybe have an open forum to allow guys to share their emotions. – Aaron Rodgers
"All of our thoughts and prayers are with Damar Hamlin and his family right now" ~@AaronRodgers12#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/C2yJdFE5DN
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 3, 2023
The NFL may have been slow to make the right decision, but players and coaches haven’t been. In what may go down as a defining NFL moment, when the league office told the teams they had five minutes to warm up and restart the game, Bengals coach Zach Taylor paused. And, then, did something extraordinary. He jogged across the field to meet face-to-face with Bills coach Sean McDermott. Watching the live broadcast, watching the coaches interact. The real authentic emotions on full display, it was apparent the game was over. Teams and fans alike had witnessed an absolutely traumatic event.
The devasting injury was made worse as fans learned Hamlin’s mother was in attendance. Today it was revealed Hamlin suffered a rare traumatic cardiac event and is in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the area’s only level 1 trauma center.
Aaron Rodgers Continued
“At the end of the day, there’s one thread that connects us all… we know we are putting our bodies on the line,” Aaron Rodgers expressed. “When this does happen, everything gets thrown out… anything that separates you is gone.” Like many of us, Rodgers was glued to Twitter, reading, refreshing, and praying for an update. “At one point, I just had to stop because it’s this loophole of just like depressive thoughts about him and about football mortality and about everything, the future and all that.”
Can’t even sleep right now thinking about my brother so much
— Shaq Lawson (@Shaq_Lawson90) January 3, 2023
Injuries have defined the 2022-2023 season, but none compared to what Damar Hamlin suffered Monday night in Cincinnati. Let’s pray for a full recovery for Hamlin, and take a moment to pause and not just move on. Humanity was on full display Monday. Aaron Rodgers, as one of the unspoken spokesmen for the players and league, accurately articulated that humanity. No one could have comprehended this. No one completely heals from this without real, honest self-work. We shouldn’t “just” move on Sunday, we should demand more to protect the athletes who entertain.
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