On Friday night, we saw something that we've never really seen before. After Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris went down with a bad injury and was transported off the field and out of the stadium in an ambulance, the Lions and Atlanta Falcons came together to decide they didn't want to play anymore.
A similar situation happened with the Bills and Bengals when DeMarr Hamlin had his scary moment on the field, but those teams never took the field again and waited for the league to suspend the game. In this case, both teams took the field and took a snap, and then just stood there with full intentions of letting a near quarter's worth of time run down before the league suspended the game with about six minutes left.
It was a beautiful moment that showed that humanity and brotherhood were more important than a game, and both teams were fully on board. They even formed a big prayer circle during that time. But here's the question that some have, and some media even asked Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, can both teams face any disciplinary action from the league for taking this into their own hands?
The answer is yes, but also probably not. What I mean is that yes, the teams could face action, but the league is probably not going to pursue any actions. We know this because two similar things happened recently.
The first was in 2023 when Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was carted off the field after a bad hit against the Packers in a preseason game. Both teams agreed not to continue playing, and the game was suspended. A week later, Dolphins receiver Daewood Davis was carted off the field in a preseason game against the Jaguars. Play was suspended in that game, too. Neither team faced any action.
At the end of the day, it's just common sense, right? These are preseason games, and they're largely meaningless. They're also largely not broadcast by the league nationally or anything like that. The league isn't losing money in these instances, and you'd hope that isn't even the concern anyway. The concern should be about the injured player and the mental state, and the emotional well-being of the rest of the players on the field. So if you're wondering about that on Saturday morning, don't worry. It's very likely all good.
