Allen Park — While many NFL players and fans are still processing the jarring scene from Monday night, when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after a midfield collision and had to be resuscitated on the field, the moment brought back memories of another on-field tragedy for Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
A third-year cornerback and kick returner with New York Jets in 1997, Glenn was on the sideline when Lions linebacker Reggie Brown required similar life-saving measures following a spinal cord injury that temporarily blocked his airway and now is walking with a back brace.
Just being present is enough to leave an ever-lasting memory of that traumatic moment, but it was more personal moment for Glenn, who had been college teammates with Brown at Texas A&M and considered him a close friend.
“I want to start in regards to what happened Monday night with Hamlin,” Glenn said to open his weekly media session Thursday. “That was a terrible, terrible thing to actually witness and actually see it. I’m actually talking from a player’s perspective now, seeing your teammate in that situation and being on the field, being in the locker room, not knowing what’s going on. Because when you go to battle with somebody, all through OTAs, all through training camp, and then you have a thought in your mind, I wonder what’s going on with this player, it’s always tough.
“The reason I relate to that so well is because it happened to me,” Glenn said. “It was ’97, it was actually here, my former teammate in college, Reggie Brown, his career was ended on a play like that and we were on the field for a quite a while. I was there to actually see it, witness it, and to see my friend laying down there and know that his career is over with, and not just that, you don’t know what’s happening. The only thing I knew was I saw him and he was purple and blue and that was as scary as it can get it. He pulled through, as we all know, but that’s tough. It’s tough.”
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Brown’s injury occurred early in the fourth quarter of the season finale in 1997, and after a lengthy stoppage, play was resumed. Glenn stayed in the game, even recording a tackle on the second Jets defensive snap after seeing his friend and former teammate taken off the field by ambulance.
On Monday night, the Bengals and Bills was suspended. Glenn applauded that decision and still has no idea how he, his teammates and the Lions were able to play the final minutes of that game in 1997.
“You know what, it’s hard to day, to be honest with you,” Glenn said. “I’m going to say this again, that wasn’t even important to be honest. It was the fact that I didn’t know what was going on with Reggie at that time. Again, I think this was the same situation. I think the NFL handled it perfect, getting the players off the field. Man, the first responders and the medical people, I think they did an outstanding job. They gave (Hamlin) a chance.”
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Hamlin is currently recovering in a Cincinnati hospital, making steady, positive progress. Late Thursday morning, the Bills provided another update.
“Per the physicians caring for Damar Hamlin at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Damar has shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours,” the statement said. “While still critically ill, he has demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact. His lungs continue to heal and he is making steady progress.”
Even if Hamlin makes a full recovery, Glenn knows the situation will have a lingering impact for the players that were there, similar to his own.
“We know it’s a violent sport, we know it’s a tough sport,” Glenn said. “I would say this, that play will never go away. The fact that it was a close friend of mine, the fact that it’s a brotherhood, regardless of who it was, and the fact that every time I’ve seen him after that, that conversation came up. Any time you think about your career, things like that will always flash. That will never leave me, at all. I know those players from Buffalo and Cincinnati, it will never leave them, too. That’s a critical, critical moment in their career that they were a part of that.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers