Journalist Marshall Kramsky described the "bone-chilling experience" of being in the stadium as Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in Monday's game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Kramsky, who covers the Bengals, was reporting on the fixture at the Paycor Stadium.
The game was suspended after 24-year-old Hamlin, who as of Tuesday was in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital, collapsed on the field.
Hamlin received emergency treatment, including CPR, before he was transported from the stadium in an ambulance.
"I've never seen a stretcher come out so fast. I'm a former athlete myself and in my journalism career or in my sports career, I've never seen such quick action," Kramsky told Stats Perform.
"We heard the mics of the players, [Bengals running back] Joe Mixon screaming 'check him out, check him out!' after Damar Hamlin got up and collapsed.
"The players were immediately extremely emotional. I've never seen so many players crying, adult men hysterical. The ambulance comes out shortly after, CPR is going on for about 10 minutes, the AD defibrillator, that's being used. They're shocking his heart back to life.
"And then, not a fan left the stadium. Everyone and every player was still on the field kneeling, praying or crying."
The NFL eventually elected to suspend the game, though Kramsky never had any doubt it would be called off.
"This game was over as soon as he went down, which is crazy because that doesn't happen in professional sports," he added.
"The NFL took a while to make their decision. But it wasn't like they really made it, it was never a decision. It was just a matter of getting through the appropriate rungs.
"They're seeing the players, Joe Burrow the Bengals quarterback went into the Bills locker room later on. I saw Josh Allen extremely teary-eyed going into the Bengals locker room. It was emotional. Nobody really processing it, because how do you?
"It was a bone-chilling experience in the stadium. Players were still there until past one o'clock in the morning. It was a crazy night."
Kramsky was at least able to take some solace in the fact that fans of both teams, and from across the sporting world, have united behind Hamlin.
Having been drafted by the Bills in 2021, Hamlin established the Chasing M Foundation Community Toy Drive, and the fund raiser had received over $3million in donations in the wake of the incident.
"Tragedy brings people together and sports brings people together," Kramsky said.
"Yes, incredible. Unfortunately, not surprising, because it takes tragedy for this to happen. And it has brought people together.
"If you look at his GoFundMe for his toy drive, it had for over two years less than $3,000 raised. There's over $3million raised now.
"So yeah, as soon as that stretcher came out football became secondary. No one cared, it was all about Damar Hamlin and his family. And people did come together.
"Bills fans and Bengals fans are coming with candles praying, standing outside the stadium, outside the hospital. It's been a nice experience in that regard."
Cousins throws for 509 yards, 4 touchdowns in Falcons' OT win over Buccaneers
Kirk Cousins passed for a career-high 509 yards and four touchdowns, the last of them a 45-yard scoring pass to KhaDarel Hodge in overtime that gave the Atlanta Falcons an improbable 36-30 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
After a wild fourth quarter that featured a blocked field goal, a fumble and an interception, Cousins and the Falcons (3-2) got the ball back at their own 20 with 1:14 remaining in regulation and no timeouts, trailing 30-27.
Cousins completed five passes to push Atlanta to the Buccaneers 29, then hustled to the line to spike the ball with a single second on the clock. In all the confusion, the Falcons were called for delay of game as they lined up for a tying field goal, but it didn't cost them.
Younghoe Koo knocked it through from 52 yards to force overtime, one week after he made a 58-yarder with 2 seconds left to beat the New Orleans Saints.
The Falcons won the coin toss in overtime and made sure Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers (3-2) didn't get their hands on the ball again. Cousins connected with Drake London on a couple of passes before throwing one over the middle to Hodge, who split the secondary and raced untouched to the end zone to end the game.
Chiefs place top wide receiver Rice on injured reserve
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid told the media Thursday the team was waiting for swelling to go down on Rashee Rice's knee before performing additional tests.
Three hours later, the Chiefs had enough information to know he'll be side-lined for at least one month.
The Chiefs placed Rice on injured reserve later Thursday, meaning he will out for a minimum of four weeks.
Rice was injured in last Sunday's 17-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and it was reported he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
There has been no update on the extent of the injury, but a torn ACL would side-line him for the rest of the season.
The second-year receiver was injured on a bizarre play when he collided with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who inadvertently dove into Rice's knee as the two team-mates were attempting to tackle Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton on an interception return.
Rice was carted off to the locker room shortly after leaving the field and eventually ruled out of the game.
His injury is the latest blow to a Kansas City team that is already without leading rusher Isiah Pacheco, who is recovering from a fractured fibula he sustained in Week 2.
It also leaves Mahomes without his top target, as Rice led the NFL with 24 receptions through this season's first three weeks.
No other Kansas City player had double-digit receptions entering Week 4, though Travis Kelce finally took on a larger role in the offence.
The veteran tight end had seven receptions for 89 yards against the Chargers after catching eight passes for 69 yards in the first three games.
Despite losing two of their top play-makers, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are 4-0 heading into their Week 5 Monday night game against the New Orleans Saints.
'It was a good day' - Goff proud of setting new NFL record
Jared Goff was proud of making history, as he set an NFL single-game record by completing all 18 of his pass attempts to help the Detroit Lions to victory.
The Lions beat the previously unbeaten Seattle Seahawks 42-29 on Monday, with Goff eclipsing Hall of Famer Kurt Warner's 10-for-10 performance in 2005, the previous standard for most passes in a game without an incompletion.
The quarterback threw for 292 yards, including touchdown passes to Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown on his perfect evening, while also hauling in the latter's 7-yard toss for a touchdown in the third quarter.
That made him the first quarterback with a receiving touchdown since Zach Wilson in 2022, while he also became the first QB in NFL history with 15 or more pass attempts with no incompletions in a game.
Goff was aware that he was closing in on a perfect game, even if he had doubts at one point.
"I knew I did it in the first half last week, so I was aware of it then, and I was kind of aware of it today in the middle of the third quarter," he said.
"I couldn't think of one [incompletion], but then I threw the one out of bounds that ended up being offensive pass interference, and I was like, 'Does that count?' I didn't know if that counted or not.
"But yeah, it was a good day."
On his touchdown reception, he added: "No, I think that's my first one, too. Ever.
"And I'm saying all the way back to 7 years old, I think that's my first one."
Lions coach Dan Campbell did not realise how impressive Goff's performance had been after the game, choosing to give the game ball to Williams and safety Kerby Joseph for their strong play.
"I just gave the game ball to somebody else," Campbell laughed. "So, I feel awful right now.
"I knew he played a heck of a game. I did not realize he was perfect. I did not know he was literally 18 for 18.
"I thought what really kick-started him was that he had to move a little in the pocket, got spun around and hung with Jamo [Williams] and hit him on the hook for the first down, that was big because he was rolling after that."
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