The new year is only beginning but I believe the good will that blossomed from a serious football injury may sustain throughout 2023.
By now you have to be aware that Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered cardiac arrest on the field after making a tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals a week ago Monday.
He had to be revived and the remarkable diligence of all the medical people who had a hand in what is now, hopefully, a recovery, is the primary feature of widespread support, prayer, and generosity that has transcended sports.
This has been a real world story.
It is uplifting every step of the way, from the manner in which players from both teams grieved tearfully together on the field after the incident, to what has appeared to be a national joining of hands to genuinely pull this young man through.
Hamlin was released from the hospital last Monday.
The arrow continued to be pointed upward.
Obviously, it could have gone either way for the 24-year old from McKees Rocks, and the progress shown thus far has been encouraging, to say the least.
The game itself was cancelled, and when Hamlin was able to speak, he asked who won the game.
The doctors told him, “you did Damar, you won the game of life”.
What was once a modest goal of his to raise $2500 for his personal toy drive back home, exploded to the tune of over $8 million raised by the weekend.
How is that for generosity and love.
His uniform #3, became a magic symbol, not only to be proudly worn on the Bills jerseys, but for the countless thousands of fans in Buffalo for the last Sunday’s game and throughout the league.
NFL head coaches wore shirts saluting Hamlin, and on and on it spread.
His surprise zoom appearance before his teammates from his hospital bed toward the end of the week was more than a timely shot-in-the-arm.
It all made me think how untrue it was that this nation is racially divided.
And that the only slogan that has real meaning is ALL LIVES MATTER, and in this instance, the life of Damar Hamlin, who happens to be African-American.
When Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff 96-yards for a touchdown against the Patriots, it seemed as if all the stars were aligned in the celebration of Hamlin’s dramatic rally.
Hines put an exclamation on the day by returning a second kick for a TD. This one was for 101-yards and the Bills sealed the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs behind Kansas City.
The league has had rules in place if teams do not play the same number of games for whatever reason.
With the Bills-Bengals game cancelled, and not re-scheduled, this was the case when the regular season came to a close.
The rule has been that winning percentage would determine the pecking order of teams.
But the league established a new convoluted plan that included coin flips and neutral sites for various eventualities in the post-season.
The NFL is now ready for its playoff season, with the Wild Card games coming up this weekend.
The Dolphins earned the final AFC playoff berth ending a five-game losing streak with a third-string quarterback.
In the NFC, the Seahawks edged their way in when the Lions, already eliminated, beat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Green Bay, thus the Packers only needing a win to get in lost to open the door for Seattle.
The NFL has a history of wild-card teams getting hot and emerging as threats in post-season.
But there have been teams who had remarkable finishes, like the Bengals and the 49ers this season who deserve extra attention.
Cincinnati won their last eight games, while the Niners captured their last 10 contests.
Next time anyone tells you to ignore the chances of a team that gets off to a slow start, tell them about the two clubs I just mentioned, along with the Lions, 8 out of 10, and the Jaguars, who went from the outhouse to the penthouse taking 6 of their last 7, to grab the AFC South title.
Finally on the pro side of football, I cite the individual winners of the MVP Award and Coach of the Year.
There are others, of course, but these are the principal ones to me.
Patrick Mahomes is my Most Valuable Player.
I think he can take his offense to the end zone every time he begins a drive.
He can throw flipping tosses, sidearm throws, and no-look passes that would do the NBA proud.
And he always has that smile one his face that speaks to his massive confidence.
For Coach of the Year, my choice is Doug Peterson who took the lowly Jags, a franchise in disarray, to a division crown.
Brian Daboll, led the New York Giants to the playoffs with a group that played hard in every game. It was Daboll’s first season as a head coach, and he was right behind Pederson in my view.
There were other first year leading men who had a shot and did superb jobs.
Kevin O’Connell of the Vikings, and Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins.
So, the stage was set for pro football’s second season.
But in college football, the final act was last Monday.
The scene was Los Angeles, but there was no Hollywood ending for TCU, the unexpected entry into the College Football Playoff final four.
In fact, for the Horned Frogs it was a horror show, as the top team and strong favorite Georgia Bulldogs romped to a 65-7 crushing to capture their second consecutive national title.
There is no guarantee that championship games produce championship excitement, and this one obviously didn’t, except for the Georgia supporters who loved every minute.
No knock against TCU which earned the right to be where they were and delivered an impressive upset of Michigan in the semi-final.
Those two games to set up the final pairing were as thrilling as you could expect with the eventual national champ Bulldogs escaping with a one-point win over Ohio State.
In today’s world of the transfer portal, schools can plug holes in their lineups from year year, and that may help TCU avoid the fate of other ‘outsiders’ whose programs went downhill after reaching the heights of the college playoff.
Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Cincinnati, from a year ago, have all struggled since their bike chance.
As for Georgia, which put the game away early with a 38-7 halftime lead, the strong should only get stronger.
NFL prospects will want to play there, and while it had been Alabama the dominant team which enjoyed that perch, it’s now Georgia.
But who knows who else, other than than the usual suspects, will come into play?
That’s a wrap for the college grid campaign, but the NFL is just beginning their battle for the Super Bowl.
Bring it on.