Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins spoke to the media for the first time since Monday night’s game vs. the Bills when he happened to be the player Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin tackled right before he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.
The 23-year-old admitted that in the moment he thought Hamlin’s collapsing was caused by the tackle, adding that he had no idea at first something very serious was happening to his opponent.
Higgins said he “just turned my head and tried not to think about it” when he realized what was happening to Hamlin. The game was temporarily suspended after Hamlin was taken away in an ambulance to a local hospital, and then later postponed. The NFL is reportedly not planning to reschedule the game at this time, either.
“It was hard,” Higgins said, via Fox 19 Now Cincinnati. “Obviously 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.”
Following the medical emergency on Monday night, Higgins received hate online with people blaming him for Hamlin’s incident. Hamlin’s family was “frustrated” about the hate sent Higgins’s way and pleaded fans to stop.
Higgins also mentioned he talked to Hamlin’s mother on the phone.
“It was just telling me that she’s thinking of me, praying for me and things like that,” Higgins said. “She’s telling me that he’s O.K. All the good, positive stuff. It feels good to know that he’s O.K., that he’s doing better.”
On Thursday, which is the same day Higgins spoke to the media, the Bills reported that Hamlin is now awake and “neurologically intact,” which means he can perform big motor movements and follow commands. He remains on a ventilator at the hospital. The first question Hamlin asked when waking up was “Who won the game?”
Because Hamlin doing better, Higgins said his mood has improved, too.
“Everything’s O.K., he’s doing good, so I’m in a good place right now,” Higgins said when asked how he was doing.
At the end of the interview, Higgins said he was done speaking about the incident, for the time being, and was ready to focus on this weekend’s AFC North matchup vs. the Ravens.
