Damar Hamlin on Tua Tagovailoa: I was just trying to make a routine tackle

It was a football play like hundreds of others, until it wasn’t.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa earned a first down late in the third quarter on Thursday night, but then lowered his head as Bills safety Damar Hamlin moved in for a tackle.

“I was just trying a routine tackleand trying to get them off the field on the fourth try,” Hamlin said, according to Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com.

It was no longer a normal football game when Tagovailoa displayed the fencing stance associated with concussions, and Tagovailoa’s history of brain injuries made this a scary development. Scary developments after seemingly routine plays are something Hamlin knows all too well after he suffered cardiac arrest following a tackle during a game against the Bengals in the 2022 season.

Hamlin worked his way back onto the field and became a starter this season, but what happened Thursday night brought back some of those memories.

“It’s trauma. It’s always going to be there,” Hamlin said. “I’m not affected by it because of the work I’ve done. I’ve done trauma therapy. I have a psychologist that I talk to. That’s allowed me to move my mind forward and move my process forward. Last year, I did the hard stuff, like putting on the pads, tackling, game preparation, to know that I’m completely fine now and I’m completely capable of playing again.”

Hamlin said he was praying for a “speedy recovery” for Tagovailoa and he would be in good company on that front.