NBC
Bills safety Damar Hamlin, whose comeback after a near-fatal accident last season had been widely discussed all week leading up to the Bengals game in Cincinnati, was on the spotlight again tonight… although for a much different reason.
Last season, Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during Week 17 against the Bengals, receiving life-saving CPR before being rushed to the hospital. This season, he’s mostly been on the sidelines as a healthy inactive, not quite being good enough to make the cut for the game-day active roster as a career backup player.
Despite his limited playing time, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico decided to chat about him during the game, which got awkward.
While Hamlin sat on the bench, the cameras caught him picking his teeth with his finger, pausing to look at what he found, and then casually eating on whatever it was.
absolutely losing my mind at Collinsworth and Tirico putting on serious voice to discuss Damar Hamlin's injury while the live sideline cam shows him picking his teeth, then eating the offending morsel pic.twitter.com/CVFGqJ8SwA
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 6, 2023
It was a strange sight, and many felt NBC could’ve done him a favor by not broadcasting it.
The NFL did have a more heartwarming feature on Hamlin earlier in the game, highlighting him talking about the rescue team that saved his life.
Damar Hamlin! 👏 pic.twitter.com/QqngWhG8V6
— NFL Brasil (@NFLBrasil) November 6, 2023
NBC should’ve done him better than broadcasting what they did.