Brian Daboll honors Bills’ Damar Hamlin as Giants return to practice with heavy hearts
As the Giants returned to practice Wednesday, coach Brian Daboll wore a blue Giants hat with Damar Hamlin’s No. 3 in white in honor of the Bills safety fighting for his life in a Cincinnati hospital.
Giants GM Joe Schoen, Daboll, and many players and staff here have a relationship with Hamiln from their time in Buffalo. So this has hit them especially hard.
“On behalf of our organization, myself, Joe, the players, some of the coaches, some of the staff members, a lot of us have been around Damar,” Daboll said in a somber opening statement. “We offer our prayers to him, his family and people in that organization.
“They’ve been through a lot, and this is tragic,” Daboll added. “It’s tragic to see. I feel for Damar most importantly, his family, but all the players and coaches that are around him every day. He’s a tremendous young man. And I just pray for a recovery. That was tough.”
Daboll, who said it was “terrible” watching Monday night’s scene, had the Giants’ medical staff and team psychologist speak to the players in Wednesday morning’s team meeting, and he had the team chaplain speak and say a prayer.
“That’s how we start it before any football,” Daboll said.
He said no players had approached him to say they were unprepared to play in Sunday’s regular-season finale at Philadelphia.
Hamlin was still in critical condition in the intensive care unit as of Wednesday morning.
