talking about what these young men go through. there s another player besides damar hamlin that i m thinking about, t. higgins. the bengals player that collided with damar earlier to night. he was seen after the game with his mother, his mother s arm wrapped around him. what must this be like for that young man? yeah. that s a very good question. thank you for having me back. you know, when you re involved in a situation like that, whether you were the one that was injured or one who caused injury, you really reflect hard on yourself. you say is it something i did? is it something that i caused? because at the end of the day, we re still family. i was thinking about it during the last break. i have a few families. i have my nfl family. i have my personal family. and i have my family as a federal agent.
sometimes, people get killed. in the nfl, players know by now that the risks are there. you do as much as you can to mitigate it, but the players know what the risks are peer they sign up to make millions of dollars. then, they know what the risks are. they never think they will wind up in the hospital with cardiac arrest though. todd: that s pull out the obvious in terms of hitting, damar hamlin is a paid hitter, a defender, a safety. it is his job the offensive player which is exactly what he was doing in the situation. you have to feel for t higgins, the player that damar hamlin hit and obviously he didn t want this to happen when he is trying to protect himself and the ball at the same time. let s focus on damar hamlin at a moment. everything i read about this young man his praise for his worth ethic and enthusiasm, his leadership on and off the field but what else can you tell us about it let me tell you one thing, he put up a toy drive in
play. i would bet some money that when the string of this story is pulled you ll find that the players on both sides, they made the decision that they were not going to play. and their decision was relaid to nfl headquarters in new york. and i bet that was the impetus for doing the common sense thing. and cancelling the rest of this game. but i mean in this discussion you ve been talking about the violence of pro football. i was at game when a yuck patriot player 25 years ago received a hit from an oakland raiders player. dallas spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. he was permanently crippled. he d be remembered once a year, wheel him out on occasion at gillette stadium. it s a violent game. we live in a violent country. but the violence of sports is up
tonight. espn reporter lisa salters was at the stadium and described the aftermath firsthand. the entire bills bench emptied and out on the field. the way that players, all of the players, bills and bengals, the way they formed a human wall around damar hamlin, that let me know there that this was not just another injury. there are things going on behind that human wall that we shouldn t be seeing. they were trying to protect that young man s privacy. that s when i realized this was not just another injury. this was something very, very serious. his teammates now headed back to buffalo despite many wanting to remain in cincinnati. w. him. i want to bring back into the conversation former nfl player randal hill. he played for the miami dolphins, arizona cardinals and new orleans saints. you were with us the last hour
monday night s football after a buffalo bills player suddenly collapsed and the game was postponed. the bills are providing some answers. they recently tweeted damar suffered a cardiac arrest. his heartbeat was restored on the field and he was transferred to the university of cincinnati medical center for further testing and treatment. he s currently sed dated and listed in critical condition. for hours there was a lot of confusion about the terrifying incident. hamlin who plays safety for the bills made a hard tackle about halfway through the first quarter. he stood up and fell back. he is number 3 and wearing white. he received cpr immediately and was then rushed out of the stadium in an ambulance. bob costas explains how the play unfolded. damar hamlin made the tackle. t. higgins, the receiver for the the bengals, accidentally hit