As the ambulance carrying injured Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin rolled slowly off the field in Cincinnati on Monday night, a group of players and team staff knelt in a vast yet intimate circle on the field. They bowed their heads, some placing hands on each other’s shoulders and some crying, in a spontaneous prayer led by the team’s chaplain, Len Vanden Bos. The hushed audience at Paycor Stadium applauded as the players knelt and then stood.
It was the first of countless prayers in a remarkable exhibition of public devotion that unfolded throughout the country in the hours and days following Mr. Hamlin’s fall after what appeared to be a normal collision early in the game. Mr. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field and was in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Wednesday night. His breathing tube was withdrawn on Friday, and he was able to communicate with his family, however his doctors have stated it is too early to say whether he will fully recover.
The invocations on behalf of the 24-year-old have gone beyond the standard “thoughts and prayers” that public figures frequently offer following a catastrophe. The outpouring demonstrates how Christian faith has long been enmeshed with American football culture, linked to the sport by its prominence in the Bible Belt. The proximity of players, whose risk of physical harm in the high-impact sport has received increased attention in recent years, helps to strengthen the bond.
A video surfaced online of Bengals fans repeating the Lord’s Prayer in the stands. On Tuesday, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback, informed his colleagues on the live broadcast that “it’s just on my heart that I want to pray.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“God, we come to you in the moments when we don’t comprehend,” he added. “I believe in prayer, as do we, and we hoist Damar Hamlin’s name in your name.” His co-anchors muttered “Amen.”
“Please pray for our brother,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen posted on Twitter, as players and coaches from throughout the league expressed similar comments. All 32 NFL clubs altered their Twitter profile images to the slogan “PRAY FOR DAMAR,” which is in the manner of Mr. Hamlin’s blue jersey. Fans gathered in vigils outside the Cincinnati hospital and Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium, where Jill Kelly, wife of former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, led a prayer.
“I believe we must all appreciate the power of prayer from coaches, players, staff, and fans in that stadium, as well as those watching from across the world,” Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “There is power in prayer.”
Outsiders may have found the intensity of these religious expressions unexpected, a rare demonstration of public devotion in an increasingly secular country. Observers of the intimate association between Christianity and American football found the exhortations to pray unsurprising.
