ORCHARD PARK – All week the Bills prayed for Damar Hamlin.
On Sunday they played for him.
And oh, what a powerful, emotionally charged day, with love emanating from every corner of Highmark Stadium and from every pore of every fan, filling the farthest, highest and steepest corners of the old football pitch.
This is a Buffalo franchise that has competed in four Super Bowls, produced Hall of Famers, been a part of its fair share of historic events in the NFL, and is a current Super Bowl favorite.
But on this day, because of what it stood for — the Bills and their fans are honoring their beloved safety of 24, who collapsed Monday night in Cincinnati and nearly died of cardiac arrest before Bills medical staff quickly performed CPR on the field performed saved his life – was on a whole different emotional level.
The result – Bills 35, Patriots 23 – was insignificant, although it secured the Bills the No. 2 playoff spot in the AFC.
That day was all about the love for #3, Hamlin’s Buffalo jersey number, and the powerful three-hour therapy session it turned into for the Bills’ players and their fans. It felt like the whole place opened its collective arms to embrace Hamlin, who still lies in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital bed.
A Buffalo Bills fan holds a sign in support of Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin’s safety during a game against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium on January 8, 2023.Getty Images
Damar Hamlin tweeted a photo from his hospital bed just before the Bills game against the Patriots on Jan. 8, 2023.Twitter/@HamlinIsland
Love for No. 3 was everywhere. It was seen on homemade signs, jerseys, pins, scoreboards, banners, face stickers and the flags that Bill’s players carried onto the field for introductions and waved wildly.
There was love for No. 3 before the game in the Twin Oak Motel parking lot a few thousand yards from the stadium where a group has been showing up at the same location for 30 years.
Mary Wilson, widow of Bills’ previous owner Ralph Wilson, is a regular visitor there. She flies to every home game from her home in Florida and drives around in her custom blue PT Cruiser, with the Bills logo emblazoned on the doors and headrests.
“If anyone wasn’t in love with the Bills before, they are now,” said Mary Wilson. “Ralph would have been so proud of this team, von [owner] Terry Pegula down to Sean [McDermott, the head coach]brandon [Beane, the GM] … and what about our quarterback (Josh Allen)?
“There is no way in the world I would miss being here today. It takes you to another level. It’s not just a game. All these guys really care about each other.”
Scott Marshall, a Lewiston native who now lives in Montclair, NJ and flies to every home game, was at the Bengals game Monday night and watched in horror as Hamlin lay on the turf being administered CPR.
Buffalo Bills fans hold signs in support of Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin safety before the game against the New England Patriots Getty Images
“It was pretty awful,” Marshall said. “I was a bit traumatized. What struck me was that I had never been anywhere where so many people were so quiet. It was surreal. It’s been such a tumultuous year for Buffalo.”
There was the mass shooting at a local supermarket, and a recent deadly snowstorm that claimed the lives of about 50 people. And now Hamelin.
“We’re just affected by so much, and when that happened to Damar, it was hard not to say, ‘Will this ever end?’ ‘ said Marshal. “There’s no way I wouldn’t be here today.”
There was love for No. 3 in section 333 at the stadium where Ed Strebel, a native of Orchard Park, has stood in the same spot for 15 years and only realized the poignancy of his section number on Sunday.
“The whole week my heart was in my throat,” said Strebel through tears. “I’ve had tears in my eyes all week, and I don’t get out of tears anytime soon.”
Buffalo Bills fans hold signs in support of Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin safety before the game against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium on January 08, 2023 at Orchard Park,Getty Images
There was love for #3 in section 137, row 34, seat 11 where Jeffrey Vellner sat the game next to me in the stands.
“Many of us are looking for a way out in football, and then you got this trauma from that way out,” said Vellner. “It’s just been a very uneasy feeling this week wondering how Damar is doing. When I went to work the next day, it was just very quiet. In fact, the next day we had to cancel meetings at work because people just weren’t in the right frame of mind to go through them.”
Vellner doesn’t have season tickets, but he said, “Today was a day you had to be here with everyone to experience that.”
Frank LoTempio, an Amherst attorney, said, referring to the victims of the supermarket shooting and the deadly snowstorm, “The best thing about this city is this city’s resilience. This city has it all. We may not be the smartest people in the world, we may not be the most qualified people in the world, but we are resilient.”
Buffalo Bills fans hold signs in support of Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin’s safety during a game against the New England Patriots.Getty ImagesBuffalo Bills fans hold signs in support of Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin safety before the game against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium on January 08, 2023 at Orchard Park,Getty Images
There was Love for No. 3 at the Bills store just outside the stadium, where Katie Hochadel stood at the checkout and recalled how it was ‘very hard’ going to work the day after Hamlin’s injury, how they ‘lost each other felt”.
“This town is a family and I don’t want to be part of another family,” she said.
There was Love for No. 3 from Gene Kershner and his wife Shaena, who used to work with the Bills on their marketing team.
“Every meeting I’ve attended and every conversation I’ve had with anyone this week has been about Damar and how uplifting it was that he was awake,” said Gene Kershner. “The whole feel of the city changed at that moment. You could see and feel that. Everyone needed it.”
Shaena Kershner said: “We all held our breath together for longer than we wanted and when we heard that Damar was able to communicate with the team and that his brain was working, we were able to let out that collective breath. Today that is celebrated.”
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