Bengals WR Tee Higgins Speaks Out For First Time Since Damar Hamlin Hit

Many watched in fear after witnessing 24-year-old Damar Hamlin collapse in the middle of the field during the first quarter of the Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was down on the field for several minutes as medical personnel rushed onto the field and performed CPR for 9 minutes. Players from both the Bills and the Bengals surrounded Hamlin in support.

The Buffalo Bills safety collapsed following a hit involving Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Now, Higgins is addressing the unfortunate incident for the first time.

After the game was postponed on Monday, the wide receiver took to Twitter to send his thoughts and prayers to Hamlin, writing, My prayers and thoughts go out to @HamlinIsland, the Hamlin Family. I’m praying that you pull through bro. Love 🙏🏾💙."

https://twitter.com/teehiggins5/status/1610143744430583808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1610143744430583808%7Ctwgr%5E2cf2b8a99cb5cd9d72849cdde2a01f8c22d8d3bf%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fbengals-wr-tee-higgins-opens-up-for-first-time-since-damar-hamlin-play-josh-allen-comes-to-his-defense-220233868.html

Now, he is speaking out further on the incident, especially now knowing that Hamlin is seeing improvements.

“He’s doing good, so I’m in a good place right now,” Higgins said. “It feels good, knowing that he’s OK, he’s doing better. It makes me feel better inside too.”

Higgins went on to speak out about what happened on the field. “At first, me being a football player, I’m thinking he just flopped. One of our guys bumped him, I just saw him fall,” he said. “But I looked again and I saw what happened, so I just turned my head and tried not to think about it. I knew it was something crazy, something tragic.”

“It was hard, I obviously wasn’t in a good place to play for the rest of that game. I’m kinda glad that we chose not to play,” he continued to say in regards to the NFL's decision to postpone the game.

The Bengals are set to play the Ravens in Week 18, and with playoffs around the corner, the players must try and win the game. “Obviously it’s been hard but I’m a professional football player at the end of the day, so I have to shift my focus to the Ravens and be prepared to win this game,” Higgins said.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen spoke at a post-practice news conference on Thursday. When speaking to the press, Allen wanted to support Tee Higgins after many took to Twitter to attack the wide receiver.

"I do want to say one more thing. I haven't reached out to Tee but I hope that he got some relief today," Allen said. "I saw some stuff on Twitter and people should not be attacking him whatsoever. I'm glad that Damar's family came out and said that.

"That's a football play and I hope he doesn't hold that upon himself, there's nothing else he could have done in that situation," the quarterback added.

Hamlin’s close family friend and marketing rep, Jordon Rooney, also spoke to Spectrum News 1 on Wednesday regarding the attacks on Higgins, saying, “They’re mad, they’re frustrated. This isn’t supporting Damar. If you think you’re supporting Damar by bashing Tee, you’re not supporting Damar."

"It was a freak football accident that could have happened with anyone at anytime," Rooney added. "The family feels bad that Tee would have any guilt in this situation.”