CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins said he’s “in a good place right now” after hearing from Damar Hamlin’s mother about his improvement on Thursday.
Higgins was involved in the hit that came right before the Buffalo Bills safety went into cardiac arrest on the field during the game Monday night. Doctors say Hamlin has made “remarkable improvement” in the last 24 hours.
Trauma team: Damar Hamlin able to respond; after waking, asked: Who won the game?
“Obviously it’s been hard, just because you know I had something to do with the play (and) whatnot,” Higgins said in his first public comments since Hamlin collapsed and the game was suspended. But “everyone has been making me feel whole again. I talked to his mom and everything is OK. He’s doing good, so I’m in a good place right now.”
Higgins said Hamlin’s mother told him “she’s thinking of me and praying for me and things like that."
“And suddenly, she’s telling me that he’s OK. And just all the positive stuff,” the third-year wideout said. “I mean, it feels good just knowing that he’s OK, he’s doing better, and it makes me feel better inside.”
A number of fans have suggested that rather than announcing the starting lineup before Sunday's game, the Bills should announce the names of the medical staff.
“You know, it was hard (to see),” Higgins said. “Obviously, (I) wasn’t in a good place to play the rest of that game, so I’m kind of glad that we chose not to play.”
Higgins’ Bengals teammate Tyler Boyd is a friend of Hamlin’s from the Pittsburgh area. Both played at Pitt. Boyd said he knew something was wrong when he tried to talk to Hamlin after the collapse.
“I was trying to speak to him, and he wasn’t giving me anything,” Boyd said. “And just seeing that, and then (I) just kind of went shocked. But it still didn’t hit me yet, you know, because that’s a football play. But once everybody was coming over, and it was getting kind of serious. It kind of touched me in a way to where, man, you just can’t take things for granted. You know, like, regardless of who we’re playing against, that’s my brother, no matter what. You know, I grew up with him.”
“It’s hard to forget about, but at the end of the day, we are professional football players,” he said. “We do have a job to do, and you just have to shift your focus and focus on the Ravens.”
