An NFL preseason game between Detroit and Atlanta has been called off early after a frightening head knock to Lions player Morice Norris.
Detroit safety Norris was hurt with 14 minutes 50 seconds left in the final quarter while trying to tackle Falcons running back Nathan Carter.
The 24-year-old was attended to for about 20mins on the field before being taken in an ambulance to a local hospital, with the preseason game ending with 6mins 31sec to go after the teams made it clear they had no plans to continue playing.
The Lions later said in a statement that Norris was stable and had “feeling and movement in all his extremities”.
The Lions led 17-10 when played was stopped and coaches Dan Campbell and Raheem Morris made the decision to not finish the game.
“Raheem Morris is the ultimate class act,” a visibly emotional Lions coach Campbell said.
“We agreed it just didn’t feel right to finish that game.”
Morris said it was “common courtesy” for the coaches to decide to not finish the game.
“It was tough to watch. It was tough for the other team to see getting a teammate hurt that way,” Morris said.
“It was the right thing to do for Dan and his crew and his team and everything we had going on right there, I thought that was the right thing.
“You never like to see anybody get hurt in any type of game or any type of way. It was a tough deal for those guys, a tough deal for us, a tough deal all across the board.”
Campbell said Norris’s mother was with him at the hospital.
Norris flew up to hit Carter low and the running back’s midsection snapped the defender’s head back after the mistimed hit, with Norris immediately unconscious.
Morice Norris (bottom left) had his head snapped back as he tried to make a tackle. (AP: Brynn Anderson)
Lions quarterback Kyle Allen said it was hard to see a teammate in the hands of medical staff for so long.
“When it’s taking that long, with that many people and that many trainers around him, you’re just hoping for the best,” he said.
“It’s just awful. … You sign up for football and you understand the risk, you understand the injury risk. You never think something like that is going to happen.
“At the end of the day we’re all out here as football players. We may be on 32 different teams but we’ve all played football our whole lives and had our own injuries and been through it.”
When play resumed, Falcons quarterback Emory Jones took a snap and then held the ball as players from both teams stood at the line of scrimmage and the clock continued to run. Finally, with 6min 31sec left, an official announced the game had been suspended.
Allen said the decision to not finish the game was easy to make.
“I don’t think anyone on that sideline wanted to play,” Allen said.
“We weren’t part of that decision but you could look in anyone’s eyes and see that.”
Though the decision to not finish the game seemed dramatic, there were two precedents from preseason games in consecutive weeks in August 2023.
New England’s game at Green Bay in Week 2 of the 2023 preseason was called off when Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was carted off in the fourth quarter. after colliding with teammate Calvin Munson while attempting to make a tackle.
A week later, a game between Miami and Jacksonville was not completed after Dolphins receiver Daewood Davis was taken off in the fourth quarter, hit hard by Jaguars linebacker Dequan Jackson while trying to catch a pass.
The two frightening injuries happened some eight months after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during a regular season game at Cincinnati in January 2023.
Hamlin has enjoyed a remarkable recovery and resumed football the following season and spent last year as a Bills starter.
AP
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