Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Best Wishes For Damar Hamlin: New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Going Beyond Football

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

Following the startling events surrounding the health of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, host Mike D’Abate shares his emotional thoughts on Hamlin, as well as reflecting on his positive influence in his hometown of McKees Rocks, PA as well as Pittsburgh where he attended both high school and college (University of Pittsburgh). Lastly, he mentions the outpouring of support from players, fans and media, including members of the New England Patriots.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONUltimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Patriots fans, thank you for joining us here today on this Tuesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Locked On Patriots, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, remember, you can always reach out to Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots, or you can reach out to me, your host, day. And folks, remember, you can always reach out to Lockdown Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots, or you can reach out to me, your host, Mike DeBate, on Twitter at MDABATENFL.

Today's episode brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy. Pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can earn up to 10 times your money on your entry. First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code LOCKEDON. That's prizepix.com, promo code LOCKEDON. Patriots fans, today's episode of Locked On Patriots will be a bit of an abbreviated one

as a large portion of our program today was going to be dedicated to the New England Patriots' upcoming matchup with the Buffalo Bills this Sunday, January 8th at Highmark Stadium, 1 p.m. kickoff in Week 18. But quite honestly, all that pales in comparison to the events that unfolded last night on the Paycourt Stadium field in Cincinnati for Week 17 matchup, Monday night football matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. Acor Stadium Field in Cincinnati for a Week 17 matchup, Monday Night Football matchup, between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. And of course, I'm talking about the events that unfolded regarding the health of Buffalo Bills safety, DeMar Hamlin. Rather than speculate medically, which I am thoroughly unqualified to do, here's what

we know. A chilling scene midway through the opening quarter, ultimately led to the game being postponed about 90 minutes after kickoff. I'll reserve further comment on that as simply to say that suspending the game and not continuing with the game was clearly the right move and really the only move that really should have been even considered and made. CPR administered to Hamlin down on the field for multiple minutes after he collapsed following his tackle of Bengals wide receiver T. Higgins. Hamlin received oxygen, apparently an AED device was used at this point, and also all measures were taken to try to help Hamlin get to the hospital safely. He was placed in an ambulance, taken off the field about 16 minutes after he collapsed,

and then he was driven to the nearby University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he remained in their care and still does as of Tuesday, January 3rd at about 9 a.m., which is when I'm recording this. According to the bills, they issued a statement overnight stating that Pamlin is currently sedated, he is listed in critical condition, and that the University of Cincinnati Medical Center did not anticipate making any statement early Tuesday morning. So right now, folks, that's all we know regarding the condition of DeMar Hamlin. Anything beyond that, pure speculation. And our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers are with the Buffalo Bills organization, mostly

with the Hamlin family and all of the teammates and all of the friends right now that are hanging on a moment and just trying to get through these moments and hoping that their friend, their family member, their teammate will be okay. A majority of the Bills team remained at Paycourse Stadium well into Monday night, some even traveling to the medical center to try to be with their teammate and their friend, but the team, including all players outside of Hamlin, departed shortly after midnight and returned to Buffalo. According to reporters at the scene, the charter landed and the Bills are back in Buffalo as we speak. And again, folks, there is a game scheduled for this weekend.

There are logistics that need to be covered, and we will do that when it's appropriate here on Locked On Patriots. But events such as these transcend sports. It reminds us what's truly important in life. And today, here on Locked On Patriots, we're lending our support, our best wishes for Bill's safety, DeMar Hamlin. This episode will continue in just a moment, but it is sponsored today by our friends over at PrizePix. And PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy. You can pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection,

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First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code LOCKEDON. And if you deposit $100, PrizePix will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePix will give you $50. So don't forget to enter the promo code LOCKEDON at signup for an instant deposit match up to $100. prizepix.com Patriots fans, thank you once again for taking time out of your schedule to join me here on this abbreviated episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. And of course, here on Locked On Patriots today, as all football fans, really anyone in any walk of life, our concern, our prayers, and our hearts are with the people of Buffalo,

the people of Pennsylvania, and mostly the Hamlin family, praying for the best possible outcome to the situation regarding Bill's safety, DeMar Hamlin. And it really has been long said that football is a community. And the rivalry between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills is about as heated as it can get. But rooting interests, regional alliances, they really mean little when a member of that solidarity, of that community, is in need. And for the communities right now of Buffalo, of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of their own has been placed in the hearts of football fans throughout the globe. And of course, I'm talking about DeMar

Hamlin. And immediately upon his difficulties and immediately upon his being taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, outpourings of support began to swell for him. Really just hearing so many great stories about the type of person DeMar Hamlin is in the community, active wherever he has been a central figure, whether it be in his hometown in Pennsylvania or whether it be in the community of Buffalo. And one thing that really struck me was the outpouring of support lent to his charity that he developed the GoFundMe page for. And originally, he tried to raise some money for a community children's toy drive. And

I'm quoting directly from DeMar's page, Ray, where it says, as I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from, and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me. And this, I think, really sums up exactly who he is and the type of gentleman that you're dealing with here. Setting up a $2,500 goal for Kelly and Nina's Daycare Center, which is located at 800 Russellwood Avenue in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. That is DeMar's hometown. And he was attempting to raise funds to help make life easier and maybe a bit more bright for underprivileged children. As the night's events unfolded, and obviously nothing is going to diminish the uncertainty, the anxiety that we're all feeling for DeMar right now and that we're just hoping for the best.

One thing that did make you realize that there is still a great deal of good in the world and a great deal of help that wants to be provided by those that can. Nearly three million has been raised for his charity fundraiser. Fans everywhere rallying around this and i believe the latest total as of 9 a.m on tuesday morning 3.4 million dollars raised that really says a lot about a lot of you out there that are trying to do everything you can to lend support and to try to keep this charity drive uh as something that demar can hopefully enjoy and look at with a lot of pride, hopefully, when he, you know, is, hopefully will be okay. And I'm sorry I fumbled through that, folks, but it's an emotional time for us all. There's no question about it. And the collective minds of not just McKee's Rocks,

not just Pittsburgh, not just Buffalo, but all over, especially New England here, we want to express all of our best wishes to everyone that are involved, and our hearts remain heavy, but it's something that we can also appreciate the great contributions from someone like DeMar Hamlin, using his platform for good, using his platform for something positive, and this is a young man that really made an impact on so many communities, so many lives. And it really started with his, you know, his, you know, being raised in McKees Rocks. And you look at what he's done in that area and attending Central Catholic High School immediately.

His teammates and his former Central Catholic brethren tweeted out their support immediately and saying that they're praying for the well-being and swift recovery of DeMar Hamlin, who graduated in 2016. May the Lord be with him. May his family be comforted during this most difficult time. And it really makes you appreciate the rallying

that people do in difficult times such as these. And it also made me think of his time at the University of Pittsburgh, which he was a standout athlete, a standout safety for them from 2017 to 2020, 48 games, six interceptions, 290 tackles. He was a member of the Panthers ACC Coastal Division winning team in 2018 and was a part of their victory in the Quicklane Bowl in 2019. Something to really be proud of and something that anyone that's known Jamar, and I don't know him personally, never got a chance to, hopefully I will someday. But at the point right now, anyone that has had any type of contact with him said that he spoke about this an awful lot. It's something that he really feels very strongly about and something that he really feels a great deal of pride in.

And you see all of that coming out. His college coach, his defensive line coach, Charlie Partridge with the Pittsburgh Panthers, said that he encourages everyone to pray for DeMar Hamlin, one of the best human beings I have ever had the honor of being with. These are Charlie's words exactly. And it also made me think of our colleague here at Locked On, Christopher Carter, who hosts Locked On Steelers. You remember Chris earlier from this season, did a crossover when the Patriots played the Steelers,

and he also covers the Pitt Panthers in his career as well, and did remark that, again, just echoing Charlie Partridge's statements that DeMar is simply one of the best people that he's ever had the opportunity to be around. It's a shame it takes events like this in order to get us to recognize the true value of what these athletes bring, not just enjoyment on the field and the play that he is able to bring, which he was able to bring so many fans to their feet, both at Central Catholic High School, Pittsburgh and the university, of course, and of course the Buffalo Bills, where he's doing a tremendous job for that organization

on the field. But it just, it makes you a little bit sad that we have to be reminded of events like this, or that events like this need to be a reminder of exactly what these young gentlemen put themselves through each and every day on the field, giving all of themselves every single time they take that field. So once again, the thoughts of his teammates, fans everywhere, including New England, continue to be with DeMar Hamlin, and we will continue to bring you all of the latest here on Locked On Patriots with regard

to his condition. And again, once there is an appropriate time and it's set, we will continue to recovering the logistics for the New England Patriots. This obviously affects the Patriots very deeply as a longtime rival with New England, and Patriots players joined the outpouring of support last night for DeMar Hamlin. They continued to do so into Tuesday morning, and it also got us reflecting on some of our legends here in New England and how they've handled some difficult situations and what the future may hold for a couple of New England Patriots that have seen it all and done it all on the football field, but really never involving anything such as horrific and scary as what we saw on the field in Cincinnati last night. We're going to conclude our episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast in just a moment talking about that. But first, BetOnline.net is one of our sponsors today,

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Patriots fans, once again, thank you for joining us here on this abbreviated episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. I'm your host, Mike DeBate, and today we're keeping our focus on lending our support, lending our best wishes to all communities involved right now that are praying for the safety and the quick and healthy recovery of Bill's safety, DeMar Hamlin. Simply a horrific, chilling event that happened on the field in Cincinnati on Monday night. And as we all outpour our support for DeMar Hamlin, and you see it all over social media from so many walks of life, we talked a little bit about his support that he's receiving from his hometown and the support that his charity continues to receive.

The New England Patriots always remain a part of the NFL brotherhood and rivalries aside it was very heartwarming to see the number of New England Patriots that lent their prayers their best wishes their thoughts to helping just everyone cope through what we had to witness last night on the field as a collective NFL fandom and players such as Devon Godchild, Ricky Jack Jones, Josh Uche, Jonathan Jones, Damian Harris, Adrian Phillips, Juwan Bentley, Mac Jones, Devante Parker, Bailey Zappi, Trent Brown, Jonu Smith, Brian Hoyer, and Kendrick Bourne, all lending social media support in a difficult time for just about everybody right now. And it really made you remember and made you realize that while NFL fandom is a community, NFL players are a brotherhood. These

guys are all out there giving their all every single day, every single night, especially every given Sunday or whenever game day happens to be. And these guys put it all out on the line. ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, I thought, did a remarkable job of covering this event last night. There's no blueprint. There's no roadmap to follow when you're dealing with a horrific event like this. You're essentially trying to go off script and you're trying to comfort your audience. I'm trying to do that in a very small and very understated scale today. And if I did fumble through a couple of things here today, folks, I hope you can understand the reasoning behind it. It's an emotional time for us all. And seeing DeMar Hamlin collapse last night on the field made you really realize the value of life and really how these players do an amazing job of putting their life on the line each and every single time. Ryan Clark mentioned that last night, that these are human beings.

They're beyond football players. We're not dealing with a football play. We're not dealing with a football issue. We're dealing with a young man's life. DeMar Hamlin is only 24 years old, folks. That is a very young age to suffer such a horrific health event. And to remember sometimes that these guys risk life and limb every time they go out on the field is something that's easy to forget. You watch on the field, you watch these hits that players take.

Big hits are celebrated. A lot of times it brings the crowd to their feet. You seldom think about the health of the man on the other end of that hit or even the person delivering the hit. And my heart is definitely with T. Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals right now, who I'm sure is gut-wrenched and really having a difficult time dealing with some of the issues that he's had to deal with as well. So it really makes you come full circle and it really makes you appreciate what is important in life. And as Patriots fans, we can relate to this situation.

And again, I'm not comparing the two because they are different situations, but I think back to 2005 and at age 31, Teddy Bruschi, who is as beloved of a figure as there is here in New England, just three days after playing in the 2005 Pro Bowl, suffering a stroke. He woke up with symptoms, left side numbness, weakness, vision problems, taken to Mass General Hospital, diagnosed with an ischemic stroke. And this is something that 31-year-olds, this is something that 24-year-olds in DeMar's case generally don't have to deal with. It's scary. It's a reminder of how fragile life is. And at that point, you really start to remember what is important in life. And I hope that we can come away from this, Buffalo Bills fans, New England Patriots fans, New York Jets fans,

Miami Dolphins, whatever rivalries that you have, always remember that the players on the field are giving their all for the love of the game. They're giving it all for their community. They're giving it all for you, the fans. Try to remember that. Always try to be respectful of the players, the coaches, and anyone that takes a football field for our enjoyment, because that's what it's there for. That's what it's meant to be. It's not meant to be derisive. It's not meant to be divisive. It's meant to be all-inclusive. It's meant to bring us all together. To root for our teams, to be passionate about our teams is something we'll always continue to do. Let's try to shelve the hate if we possibly can. It really is something that I think is important to so many out there. And really, an event like this brings

you back to reality. And it also makes you understand and appreciate players that we've had here for so long that have given all of themselves to the New England Patriots organization. Guys like Devin McCourty and Matthew Slater, who reflected earlier this week, or I should say a couple of days ago, on the fact that they're hitting the twilight of their career. And right now, they're considering retirement. It's really not, I think, a stretch to say that. And you hear Devin McCourty's words and you hear him saying that as he left the field against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in the Patriots victory, he took a moment, spent some time with his family on the

field, understanding that it's been a great run. And I heard Devin talk about the fact that he may be able to bookend his time on a Gillette Stadium field, coming in with a win, going out with a win. And you hear the life behind the football. You hear the actual impact that it has on their lives, because when they do retire, football will continue on, but their lives will continue on in a different direction. And Matthew Slater saying the same thing, always eloquent, always, you know, the voice of reason when it comes to the New England Patriots, trying to block it out, he said, of obviously being the ultimate teammate and the

ultimate team competitor. But there were definite opportunities where, you know, he did acknowledge that you do have to remember the fragility of your career. And in the case of DeMar Hamlin, you remember the fragility of life. And right now, I know he's suffering and definitely doing his best. And I know everyone around him is doing his best to pull him through this. And we sincerely hope here at the Locked On Patriots podcast, and really, I think on behalf of the New England Patriots and everybody that continues to lend their support in their own voice, we all here in the region are with Buffalo.

We're with McKee's Rocks. We're with Pittsburgh. And we're with the Hamlin family, most importantly. And that really is what the thrust of today's show really was supposed to be. And I think the thrust of what our focus is here. So once again, folks, thank you for joining me here on this emotional, abbreviated and difficult episode to get through. And I hope you were able to get through it.

And if we were able to provide you with even a little bit of comfort or some words of wisdom at this time, it definitely fills me with a little bit of comfort or some words of wisdom at this time. It definitely fills me with a little bit of hope. But once again, we will continue to keep you updated on the very latest regarding DeMar Hamlin's condition. Check out Locked On Bills. Check out Locked On Bengals for the very latest surrounding the game. And also, folks, take a moment to hug your loved ones a little closer and a little tighter today.

It's important. And sometimes you don't get those moments back. That's just something that I think all of us can relate to when we see an event unfold like this. So continued best wishes, continued prayers to the Hamlin family, to DeMar Hamlin especially. We're pulling for you, my friend. We really hope everything is going to be okay. And we want to see you back up and around as soon as possible.

Folks, thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen every day. Remember that Locked On Patriots continues to be available on all platforms, including YouTube. And now that you've made your first listen here on Locked On Patriots, please make your second listen. Our good friends over at Locked On Sports Today who also continue to monitor this situation. You can find them on the Odyssey app or across all podcasting platforms. Once again, I am your host, Mike DeBate. Thank you for joining me here today.

Please continue to stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a decent day, everyone.