ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The echoes of “Let’s Go Buffalo!” pregame chants were still reverberating through the Bills’ emotionally charged stadium, in celebration of Damar Hamlin, when another roar suddenly erupted as Buffalo’s Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown.
Some three hours later, and after Hines returned another kickoff 101 yards for a go-ahead score in a 35-23 win over the New England Patriots, the fans were on their feet chanting “Hamlin! Hamlin! Hamlin!” as Buffalo players held up three fingers in reference to the injured safety’s No. 3 jersey.
Whatever questions the Bills faced regarding being capable of playing Sunday — six days after being left stunned and saddened in watching the 24-year-old Hamlin having to be resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati — were answered before the game was 14 seconds old.
“I can’t remember a play that touched me like that, I don’t think in my life. It’s probably No. 1,” Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said. “It’s just spiritual. … You can’t draw that one up or write that one up any better.”
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott said the team reached Hamlin by phone and had him count down the Bills’ final huddle in the locker room before the game. After the electrifying kickoff, Hamlin posted a celebratory tweet from his hospital bed at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he has spent the past week progressively recovering. He returned to Twitter after his teammate duplicated the feat by running even farther, posting “HINES FREE” in celebration.
Acquired by Buffalo in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts two months ago, Hines became the NFL’s 11th player to return two kickoffs for scores in a game, but the first since Leon Washington for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010.
“We as a community, I feel like we needed this win,” Hines said before recalling the message Hamlin’s father, Mario, delivered to the team Wednesday in urging them to play. “He said that’s what Damar wanted, he would want us to push forward and to win against New England.”
AP photo by Joshua Bessex / The Buffalo Bills’ Nyheim Hines (20) celebrates after his 96-yard return for a touchdown on the opening kickoff of Sunday’s home win against the New England Patriots in Orchard Park, N.Y.While Hines sparked the victory in the final week of the regular season, much of the Bills’ focus remained on Hamlin, who addressed the team by videoconference Friday and told them, “Love you, boys.”
Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White, who at times this season questioned if he’d ever recover from a knee injury sustained in November 2021, had difficulty holding back his emotions after intercepting a pass for the first time this season. Apologizing for using a profanity in referring to how difficult last week was, White noted how Hamlin texted his fellow defensive backs by apologizing for what he put them through emotionally.
“For him to check on us?” White said. “I just want to hug the (heck) out of him.”
Bills receiver John Brown scored a 42-yard touchdown, then honored assistant trainer Denny Kellington by handing him the ball. It was Kellington who is credited for his quick on-field response in performing CPR to get Hamlin’s heart beating again when it stopped after the safety made what appeared to be a routine tackle during the first quarter of the game against the Bengals.
With the past year filled with adversity striking Buffalo, from a fatal mass shooting at a supermarket in May to a deadly snowstorm over Christmas, the Bills showed their resilience by uplifting their community. Overcoming the sudden shock and mental distress of Hamlin collapsing on the field, the win secured Buffalo (13-3) the AFC’s No. 2 seed.
The Bills will now host the Miami Dolphins, a fellow AFC East team, in the wild-card round next weekend.
New England’s loss, coupled with Miami beating the New York Jets in the division’s other head-to-head matchup Sunday, eliminated the Patriots (8-9) from the playoffs for the second time in three years but just the fourth time in 23 seasons with Bill Belichick as their head coach.
And leave it to receiver Stefon Diggs, who made a point to visit Hamlin at the hospital immediately after the game in Cincinnati was suspended (the NFL later elected not to complete it), to seal Buffalo’s victory Sunday by catching a 49-yard touchdown pass from Allen for the final margin with 8:51 remaining.
The sold-out crowd — many of them wearing No. 3 Hamlin shirts and jerseys and holding up red hearts in the player’s honor — erupted as one as Allen walked off the field with his hands raised. On the ensuing kickoff, which went for a touchback, Buffalo special teams players all raced into the end zone and motioned to the crowd.
The fans, as one, stood up and let out a massive roar.
The tributes went far beyond Buffalo on Sunday, just as concerns for Hamlin had stretched across the NFL over the past week.
In Indianapolis, Colts safety Rodney Thomas II — a former high school teammate of Hamlin’s in Pittsburgh — clutched the ball he had just intercepted, jogged to the 30-yard line, gingerly placed the pigskin at the top of the red-outlined “3,” raised his hands over his head and formed them in the shape of a heart.
Hamlin’s number was on display everywhere across the NFL: outlined on 30-yard lines on fields, worn on special patches on Buffalo uniforms, featured on jackets and sweatshirts and even on red hearts dangling from the tailgate tents outside the Bills’ Highmark Stadium.
Before the game, Ryan Magnuson stood in front of a 4-x-10-foot canvas greeting card that he placed near a stadium entrance for fans to sign. The message on the card: “If you get a chance to show some love today, do it. It won’t cost you nothing” — a reprise of a tweet Hamlin sent more than two years ago.
Hours later and some 1,500 miles away in Denver, the host Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers walked to the numbers near their respective sidelines while the players on both teams who wear No. 3 — Russell Wilson and Derwin James Jr. — met at the 50-yard-line, shook hands and kneeled in prayer.
Back in Indianapolis, the Colts were unable to pull off a victory as the Houston Texans won 32-31, but Thomas, who made a midweek trip to visit Hamlin, was happy to have a chance to celebrate his friend: “I’m just glad I got a chance to go out there and make a play and honor him the way I did.”