The Buffalo Bills handled business with ease in their 32-6 win Sunday over the New York Jets — but at one point, safety Taylor Rapp suffered a neck injury that not only forced him out of the game but also required that he be stabilized on a gurney and taken out of the stadium in an ambulance.
During this ordeal, the camera operators turned their focus to fellow Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
CBS camera going to hell for pointing the camera at damar hamlin during Taylor rapp injury ? pic.twitter.com/J09IJHEDvr
— rare (@veryrare_ns) November 19, 2023
Last season, Hamlin suffered perhaps one of the worst injuries we've ever seen on an NFL field, going into cardiac arrest.
"I died on national TV in front of the world ... (and) to see the world see the good that I was trying to do even before the notoriety, for that to be acknowledged, it was just a wonderful feeling,'' Hamlin said. "I plan to save a generation and generations to come."
He was cleared to return to football activities in April.
From the camera operators' perspective, it was an effort to show a reaction from a fellow player who was in a worse but similar situation in terms of the ambulance, gurney, etc. But others didn't appreciate CBS' attempt to display a reaction from a teammate.
As the tweet above reads, "CBS camera going to hell for pointing the camera at damar hamlin during Taylor rapp injury."
This season, Hamlin has only played in one game, a Week 10 contest against the Denver Broncos. He played nine snaps, including three in run defense, one rushing the passer, and five in coverage. He made one tackle and allowed one catch for six yards.
This could be a theme of things to come: A player on the Bills is carted away, and the camera operators turn to Hamlin — who knows that situation all too well — to see his reaction.
