Hamlin in their hearts, NFL players and fans pay tribute to No. 3
CTV
The Buffalo Bills and their fans planned several tributes to safety Damar Hamlin for the team's game Sunday -- No. 3 jerseys, homemade T-shirts and even a 10-foot wide get-well card.
Damar Hamlin's old high school teammate clutched the ball he had just intercepted, jogged to the 30-yard line, gingerly placed the pigskin at the top of the red-outlined “3," raised his hands over his head and formed them in the shape of a heart.
“I’m just glad I got a chance to go out there and make a play and honour him the way I did," said Hamlin's buddy, Colts safety Rodney Thomas II.
Thomas' gesture might have been the most poignant moment, but it was far from the only shout-out to the Bills safety on an NFL Sunday filled with love for a stricken player whose impact is being felt across the nation.
Hamlin's number — number “3” — was on display everywhere across the league, outlined on 30-yard lines on fields, worn on special patches on the Bills uniforms and featured on jackets and sweatshirts and even on red hearts dangling from the tailgate tents outside the Bills home stadium.
The highest volume of tribute poured in, naturally, from that parking lot in Orchard Park, New York, where Buffalo's 35-23 victory over New England was punctuated by a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Nyheim Hines on the game's opening play.
“OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” Hamlin tweeted after the quick score.
The safety, whose recovery after his collapse on the field Monday night in Cincinnati has overtaken every NFL story line, also shared a photo of himself making a heart with his hands from his hospital bed shortly before kickoff with the text “GAMETIME!!! @BuffaloBills.”
