With millions of fans following the dramatic recovery of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field after suffering cardiac arrest during the first quarter of Monday Night Football, the National Football League is taking steps to acknowledge Hamlin during this weekend’s games.

The league had devised a number of activities for its teams, designed to help show support for Hamlin, including special shirts, uniform patches and on-field logos.

For example, the NFL distributed a public address announcement that clubs are encouraged to read prior to the national anthem. In addition to Hamlin, the announcement salutes the first responders and medical personnel that aided the player.

"Throughout this week, the entire NFL family has been praying for Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills as he continues his recovery, and we thank the first responders and medical professionals involved in his care," the announcement reads. "The [CLUB NAME] ask you to join us in a moment of support and love for Damar, and cheer for him and his family as they continue their fight."

The Bills will play the New England Patriots at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.

Also: NFL Says Buffalo-Cincinnati Game In Which Player Collapsed Won’t Be Resumed

On NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the opening segment will show scenes from around the NFL on Sunday, including players on-site at Lambeau field wearing the #3 shirts pregame, NBC sports said.

Sportscaster Mike Tirico will voice over these scenes.

The network will then join the public address announcer for the moment of support in stadium.

ESPN said it will cover the events editorially.

The NFL said teams are also permitted to outline the number 3 in each 30-yard line number on the field in blue or red to reflect the Bills' colors and Hamlin's jersey number.

During warm-ups before their games this weekend, all players have the option to wear black Nike T-shirts displaying "Love for Damar 3."

During warm-ups in Buffalo, Bills players will wear a similar Nike shirt but in the team's royal blue. New Era hats embroidered with a "3" on them will be provided to Bills football personnel to wear during warm-ups.

Buffalo Bills players will also be wearing a No. 3 patch on their jerseys for this weekend's game.

The league also noted that fans, clubs and players have been incredibly generous in support of Damar's GoFundMe fundraiser. A fund has been established by his family at The Giving Back Fund and donations can now be made directly by visiting chasingmsfoundation.com. ■

The National Football League announced that Monday’s game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals — in which Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest — will not be completed.

Hamlin needed to have his heart restarted on the field and was rushed to the hospital. He is in critical condition but has “shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours,” the team said. He is holding hands with visitors and is able to write messages.

Hamlin had his breathing tube removed Friday and addressed his teammates via Facetime, according to the Buffalo Bills' Twitter account.

The game, a Monday Night Football telecast airing on ESPN and ABC, was suspended in the first quarter. Because it had implications for the NFL playoffs, the league was looking for ways to finish the game. But the league said it will not be finished and said a potential AFC Championship game between Buffalo and the Kansas City Chiefs might be played on a neutral site because the two teams will not have played the same number of games, throwing off the way the league normally determines home-field advantage during the playoffs.

The AFC Championship Game is historically one of the highest-rated broadcasts of the year.

If the Bills and Chiefs wind up meeting in a Wild Card game, home field will be determined by a coin toss. 

“This has been a very difficult week,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We continue to focus on the recovery of Damar Hamlin and are encouraged by the improvements in his condition as well as the tremendous outpouring of support and care for Damar and his family from across the country. We are also incredibly appreciative of the amazing work of the medical personnel and commend each and every one of them.”

The decision not to play the conclusion of the game was reached by the league after talking with the teams and the NFL Players Association.

The league laid out three reasons for not playing the game:

• Not playing the Buffalo-Cincinnati game to its conclusion will have no effect on which clubs qualify for the postseason. No club would qualify for the postseason and no club will be eliminated based on the outcome of this game.
• It would require postponing the start of the playoffs for one week, thereby affecting all 14 clubs that qualify for postseason play.
• Making the decision prior to Week 18 is consistent with our competitive principles and enables all clubs to know the playoff possibilities prior to playing the final weekend of regular season games.

Among the key factors in arriving at this decision:

“Cancelling the game between the Bills and Bengals creates potential competitive inequities in certain playoff scenarios,” the league noted. “In an effort to mitigate those inequities, NFL clubs will consider tomorrow in a Special League Meeting a resolution recommended by the Commissioner and approved today by the Competition Committee, consisting of two elements: 

“The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team.

“The second element comes into play If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati in Week 18 it will have defeated Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, twice but will not be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore will for a 17-game schedule. 

“If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and if those two clubs are scheduled to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site for that game would be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play one another in the Wild Card round, the game sites would be determined by the regular scheduling procedures,“ the NFL said.

“As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities,” Goodell said.  “I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking the ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances.” ■

The National Football League has said Monday night’s postponed Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game will not be played this week as the league continues to monitor the health of Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest during the first quarter.

In a Tuesday afternoon statement, the league said the Bills-Bengals game “would not be resumed this week” as it continues to be in “regular contact with the medical team caring for Hamlin" as well as the two teams and the NFL Players Association.

“The NFL has made no decision regarding the possible resumption of the game at a later date,” the league said in a statement.

The decision comes a day after the league suspended the Monday Night Football game, which aired on ESPN and ABC, in the first quarter, after Hamlin collapsed on the field following a tackle. Hamlin was given CPR on the field as players from both teams gathered around the fallen athlete. It was announced shortly afterwards that Hamlin had suffered cardiac arrest and his heartbeat was restored on the field.

The league said there will not be any changes to the Week 18 regular-season schedule, and it would provide additional information as it becomes available.

Hamlin’s family released a statement on Twitter thanking first responders and healthcare professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center “who provide exceptional care to Damar.” ▪️

The 2022 NFL season kicks off Thursday, September 8, with the defending champ Los Angeles Rams playing the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. NBC has the game. The kickoff takes place at 8:20 p.m. ET and coverage begins at 7 p.m. 

Despite it happening on a Thursday, the game bears NBC’s Sunday Night Football branding. Sunday Night Football continues September 11 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing the Dallas Cowboys. The Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers a week later. 

The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. 

Every Sunday night game this season streams on Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. 

Al Michaels has done 16 seasons in the booth for Sunday Night Football. Now calling Thursday Night Football games for Prime Video, he shifts to an emeritus role at NBC Sports. 

Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will work the Sunday night games for NBC, with Melissa Stark handling sideline reporting. 

Coordinating producer Rob Hyland and director Drew Esocoff handle the production for NBC Sports. ■