Buffalo Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott hails Denny Kellington for saving Damar Hamlin’s life

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott claimed that the team ‘owes’ it to Damar Hamlin to face the New England Patriots Sunday and praised ‘hero’ trainer Denny Kellington following the safety’s cardiac arrest Monday.

Hamlin, 24, is ‘awake’ and has made ‘substantial improvement’ after suffering a cardiac arrest during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bills’ assistant trainer Denny Kellington gave Hamlin life-saving CPR on the field after he collapse following a hit on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins before the safety was taken to hospital. 

Head coach Sean McDermott (L) hailed Denny Kellington (R) for saving Damar Hamlin’s life

Damar Hamlin is awake and showing signs of improvement after suffering a cardiac arrest and being resuscitated during Monday’s Bills-Bengals game in Cincinnati

Speaking at the Bills’ first media availability since the incident, McDermott hailed the assistant trainer as a ‘real hero’.

‘To give it context, Denny is one of our assistant trainers,’ McDermott explained. ‘Just like our team, their team go through mock exercises for these sorts of things, but we’re not around for those. As they say, practice pays off.

‘For an assistant to find himself in that position and take charge and step up like he did, it’s nothing short of amazing,’ he continued as he paid tribute to the assistant. ‘The courage that took, you talk about a real leader and a real hero, for saving Damar’s life. I admire his strength.’

The head coach claimed Kellington’s reactions to the ordeal is ‘nothing short of amazing’

Although the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals will not be resumed, the team is scheduled to play the New England Patriots at 1pm Sunday as the NFL’s Week 18 slate is set to go ahead.

When pressed on why his team have to play this weekend, McDermott insisted his team owes it to their teammate as he revealed that Hamlin’s dad Mario had told them it is what his son would want. 

He said: ‘I feel strongly that as his dad Mario had mentioned to us, that this is what Damar would have wanted. We owe that to Damar and to his family.’ 

The Buffalo Bills are scheduled to face the New England Patriots at 1pm on Sunday in Week 18 

Hamlin had been sedated following his on-field resuscitation on Monday, but began communicating with doctors in writing Wednesday as his verbal communication remains impeded by his breathing tube. 

The 24-year-old defensive back even asked doctors who won Monday’s game, which was postponed indefinitely after he collapsed in the first quarter. 

Buffalo quarterback Allen, who sat alongside his coach, added it was impossible to deny Hamlin’s dad’s demand to ‘charge forward’ and insisted it will be easier to play following Thursday’s positive update. 

‘Mario [Hamlin, Damar’s dad] didn’t tell us, he demanded us… you can’t deny his request to go out there and charge forward,’ he said. 

‘We’ll be playing with less heavy hearts now after today’s news. There’s been a lot of tears. The guys are excited and ready to get out there.’

Both Bills (above) and Bengals players were visibly upset as Hamlin received CPR on the field 

Damar Hamlin pictured alongside his father, Mario, during his playing days at Pittsburgh

Allen also did not appear surprised at Hamlin’s question of the result as he said he and his teammates ‘loved’ hearing it as he showed what type of person the safety is. 

‘As teammates you love hearing that response,’ he began, ‘that the first thing on his mind wasn’t “poor me”, it was “how are my teammates doing and did we win the game?”

‘Guys love each other, we really do. For Damar to go through that and to come out on the other side and still think of his teammates, that’s Damar, that’s how he really is.’ 

Hamlin’s jersey became one of the highest selling in any sport on Fanatics.com following the traumatic incident on Monday night with all proceeds from sales to be donated to his charitable toy drive.

Quarterback Josh Allen said he and his teammates ‘loved’ that Hamlin asked of the result

Allen said he expected to see a lot of No. 3 jerseys in the crowd during the Bills’ home game Sunday as he admitted taking to the field will be ‘surreal’. 

[I’m expecting] A lot of three jerseys, three signs… it’ll be a little surreal,’ he said. ‘Home, last week of the season, there’s some stuff we still need to talk about as a team and get through, but we’re going to keep moving forward.’

McDermott took the time to thank a number of people from the first responders to the Bengals organization, who the Bills faced in a pivotal game on Monday Night Football. 

Allen said he was expecting to see a lot of No.3 jerseys – Hamlin’s number – in the crowd 

‘I’d like to thank a number of people,’ he began. ‘There have been a number of people involved and if we leave someone out, we apologize. We’d like to thank the first responders, the staff, doctors and nurses at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

‘I’d also like to thank the entire Bengals organization, their ownership, and specifically Zac Taylor, their staff, their players, for going above and beyond. The officiating crew on the field, led by Sean Smith, and the way they handled that situation with extreme poise, certainly helped.’ 

McDermott further added praise in particular for ‘tremendous’ Bengals coach Zac Taylor. 

On Wednesday, Taylor opened up on the grave conversation he had with McDermott after deciding to go over to the Bills’ sideline and talk with his counterpart instead of ‘playing telephone’ following the scary ordeal.

Zac Taylor opened up on the sideline conversation he had with McDermott during the ordeal 

McDermott told Taylor he ‘need[ed] to be at the hospital’ with Hamlin after his cardiac arrest

He revealed that the first thing McDermott said was, ‘I need to be at the hospital with Damar. I shouldn’t be coaching this game,’ and both teams agreed the game should not be resumed. 

McDermott shared his appreciation of the rival coach and the Bengals for the empathy they showed throughout the ordeal. 

‘I’m very appreciative of Zac,’ McDermott said. ‘You spend all week preparing to beat each other. As fast as that was unfolding, you prepare for things to go wrong in the game as you visualize them unfolding, but they’re not of that nature.

‘Their [the Bengals’] captains came down to our locker room and met with our captains. Just an amazing show of compassion, empathy and love. Minutes before that, we were going at each other. My hat goes off to Zac and the Bengals. 

‘Things unfolded so quickly and things have happened so quickly since that moment, that I haven’t really thought back to the steps in order. I had forgotten [what I said to Zac]. 

Allen (17) and the Buffalo Bills react a Hamlin is tended to on the field after a collision

‘After Damar got loaded into the ambulance, I remember thinking, “we’re going to need some time.” We’re so conditioned, when a player goes off the field injured, to go into that mode. Zac was tremendous.’

Allen had the highest praise for his coach for his handling of the traumatic events on Monday night. 

‘The way he [McDermott] handled it,’ Allen began. ‘He was the perfect man in that situation, I can’t say enough about him in that situation, what he said to us in the locker room, a dire situation that no-one is ready for. 

‘You can never put yourself in that situation until it happens. Our training staff are going out there not knowing what’s going on, working as a single cell, saving his life. Being on the field… you lose sleep. The coach handled it as well as anyone could.’

Hamlin stood up after landing the hit on Higgins but immediately collapsed to the ground. 

Allen said he hopes Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (right) has got some ‘relief’

ESPN analyst Bart Scott was branded ‘despicable’ for suggesting that Higgins was at fault for lowering hit helmet. 

And Allen similarly shut down any claims that Higgins was at fault as he said he hoped the Bengals wide receiver has got some relief. 

‘I haven’t reached out to Tee,’ he said. ‘I hope he got some relief today. I saw some stuff on Twitter. People should not be attacking him whatsoever, I hope he found some relief today and I hope he doesn’t hold that against himself. He did everything he should have done.’