Damar Hamlin’s routine hit against Tua Tagovailoa is a frightening reminder: “It’s a trauma. It will always be there”

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Damar Hamlin doesn’t want to be a spokesman for the death rate of football players.

He wants people to see him not as a medical miracle, but as a top-notch football player. That process continues with every game Hamlin plays. Four nights after starting the Buffalo Bills’ season opener, he led them with eight solo tackles and 10 total tackles.

During one of those games, however, his new normal behavior collided with a frightening reminder of the brutal nature of football.

“I was just trying to make a routine tackle,” Hamlin said, “to get them off the field on the fourth attempt.”

Thanks to Hamlin, every football viewer should know that there are no routine tackles. Disaster lurks on every play.

All of the points had already been scored in the third quarter of the Bills’ 31-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, and on this play, all of the yards Tua Tagovailoa needed for the first down had already been reached. But the quarterback, with his troubling concussion history, was not going to let it slide.

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On fourth-and-4 at Buffalo’s 13-yard line, Tagovailoa looked to pass before an alley opened up right in front of him. He ran 7 yards up the middle, but instead of going down safely, Tagovailoa closed his eyes, lowered the crown of his helmet and slammed headfirst into Hamlin.

As he struck Hamlin’s right chest and arm, Tagovailoa’s neck and head shook. Tagovailoa went limp and slumped onto his buttocks, causing the back of his head to slam into the turf at Hard Rock Stadium. A telltale sign of brain trauma: Tagovailoa’s arms went into a fencing stance, his right arm was stiff and raised involuntarily, his fingers were twisted.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen Tagovailoa in a similar pose. He’s been diagnosed with at least four concussions and considered retiring in 2022 due to head injuries he sustained.

Hamlin wasn’t immediately sure of the extent of Tagovailoa’s situation. He clapped his red-gloved hands in disgust and snapped out his mouth guard, frustrated that the Dolphins were moving the chains. Tagovailoa stayed down, but Hamlin thought it might be a cramp on a sweltering South Florida night.

And then the moment was there, perhaps only briefly.

Damar Hamlin says he went through trauma therapy to continue playing football despite the risks. (Peter Joneleit / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Hamlin acknowledged he may never shake the severity of serious injuries, but he’s trying. It’s been 20 months since he went into cardiac arrest during an otherwise routine tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals. An extremely rare event triggered commotio cordis, a condition in which blunt force to the chest within a 20- to 40-millisecond window in the heart’s rhythm causes it to stop. Hamlin was brought back to life with CPR and a defibrillator and spent two days in an induced coma.

Hamlin would like to say he hasn’t thought as much about Tagovailoa’s attitude as any other player, but that wouldn’t be entirely honest.

“It’s trauma. It’s always going to be there,” Hamlin said from his booth in the visitors’ locker room. “I’m able to not let it affect me because I’ve worked so hard. I’ve done trauma therapy. I have a psychologist that I talk to. That’s helped me move my mind forward, move my process forward.”

“I did the difficult things last year in terms of putting on the pads, tackling and preparing for games, and now I know I’m OK and can play at my full potential again.”

Hamlin missed all but five games last season and didn’t start any of them. He recorded two tackles in just 17 defensive snaps, playing time he nearly quadrupled in last week’s win over the Arizona Cardinals.

On Thursday night, he recorded his first tackle for a loss since the game before his cardiac arrest. Two plays after tackling Tagovailoa, Hamlin showed no inhibitions as he stuffed Dolphins tailback De’Von Achane on second and goal from the 7-yard line. The play helped the Bills deny the Dolphins any more points.

“It’s football,” Hamlin said. “I did the hard work last year to clear my head and know that the field is one of the safest places to be in my situation. We have so many professionals who train for these types of situations and that’s what allowed me to come back.”

“So my head is free. My head is clear. I’m just out there trying to play football.”

Hamlin’s medical emergency was even more catastrophic. He died on the field. But there had never been a case of commotio cordis in the NFL before, and the chances of it happening again are slim.

Tagovailoa’s situation is repetitive and sometimes frightening to watch. We know how football can damage the human brain.

Many in the football world took to social media to call on Tagovailoa to retire, saying long-term brain problems weren’t even worth the gigantic four-year, $212.4 million contract he signed in training camp.

Even strangers begged Hamlin to stop playing.

“You have to block all that out,” Hamlin said. “At the end of the day, there’s no one on the field with you except the people who are on your side. When the cameras are off, there’s no one in the room with you except your family. Those are the opinions that matter.”

Hamlin added encouragement.

“I’m praying for him,” Hamlin said. “I hope he recovers quickly.”

“I know he’s a dog. He’s a fighter. He’ll definitely come back soon.”

(Top photo: Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)