BarcelonaThe family of Damar Hamlin is asking the football community to pray for the Bills player, who is in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest on Monday. The defender collapsed after receiving a tackle on the penultimate day of the NFL regular season. They were able to resuscitate him, but a few days later his prognosis remains extremely serious. It wasn’t the only incident in a dark week for the competition, as Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins) suffered a concussion from a tackle to the back of his head.
Injuries are common in the NFL. In fact, several portals take it upon themselves every week to make a summary of all the players who have suffered one. Unlike the football we play at home, where the vast majority are muscular and only a few are traumatic, in the NFL almost all of them are the result of hits: from trauma to fractures to dislocations and torn ligaments in the knee. And also more serious ones, like those of Hamlin or Tagovailoa, although they are – fortunately – less frequent.
But these latest cases have increased, once again, the debate about security in American football. Seen through European eyes, and despite some comparisons with rugby, they are only similar in that you have to carry an oval ball across the field. As for the rest, the sport has many more interruptions and physical contact is not only allowed, but part of the show. It is not at all strange, then, that the practitioners are covered up to their eyebrows, with a helmet and all the protections spread over the body, especially in the area of the trunk.
Hamlin suffered a hard but legal tackle
Despite everything, in the case of Hamlin there is some unanimity in talking about a completely fortuitous accident. With the rules in hand, the tackle he received on the chest is perfectly legal. The Buffalo Bills linebacker fell to the ground, but no one noticed, because it was an action like so many others. In fact, the 24-year-old player rose to his feet. But when everyone was already thinking about the next move, Hamlin collapsed. The player received emergency first aid and left the stadium in an ambulance. Then, the two teams retreated to the dressing rooms. Shortly after, Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, announced that the game was suspended.
The American Football League pledged to provide information on Hamlin’s condition, but so far the news has trickled out. Of course, they invite a bit of optimism because, according to the NFL, the player has experienced a “slight improvement” despite remaining in critical condition. At the same time, a donation campaign has been launched for the Chasing M’s Fondation, which the player chairs and which raises funds for underprivileged children in his hometown of McKees Rocks, in the northern state of American from Pennsylvania. As of last update Wednesday evening, $4 million had been surpassed.
Tua Tagovailoa suffers his third concussion of the season
Hamlin’s was the most serious, but the concussion suffered by Tua Tagovailoa just a week earlier has generated more concern in the NFL community. The quarterback of the Miami Dolphins was hit in the back of the neck, but still insisted on playing. And it wasn’t until the next day that the dizzy player alerted his team’s doctors. They explored it and quickly detected the commotion.
The case raised quite a stir for several reasons. The first, which was the third time this season that Tagovailoa suffered a concussion. All, according to his team, of a mild nature. But, above all, because it called into question the NFL’s protocol for this type of injury.
Both the league and the players’ union (NFLFA) mandate that a football player be treated immediately if he takes a hit to the head or shows symptoms consistent with a concussion. And this November they agreed to further tighten the regulations to “guarantee the safety” of athletes. Although, as was shown, in the case of quarterback of the Dolphins did not activate in time, both the NFL and the NFLFA wanted to cover their shoulders with a joint statement where they passed the ball to the player. They assured that they had acted “correctly” and said that if the concussion had not been detected until the day after the game it was because “the player had not shown the symptoms”.
The competition, in spite of everything, does not stop and this weekend the last day of the regular phase is contested which will determine the play-off of the tournament The show must go on!
