Bills say Hamlin showing signs of improvement, but still critical

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin demonstrated signs of improvement following the injury that led to him suffering a cardiac arrest on the field during a game, the team announced Wednesday, although he remained listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit of a Cincinnati hospital.

The Bills said in a statement that the progress was “noted” Tuesday and overnight, adding: “He is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him.”

Hamlin is being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after he collapsed on the field following a hit during Monday night’s game against the Bengals.

“Right now, things are moving in a positive direction,” Jordon Rooney ,a marketing representative for Hamlin, said during an interview Wednesday with the NFL Network. “The doctors, what they were looking to see, I think they saw that. I can’t speak specifically on it. But things are moving in the right direction.”

NFL officials said they would consider all scheduling options as they began to decide whether to complete Monday’s game, which was stopped after the first-quarter incident. The league previously said the game would not resume this week. Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said his conversations with

Bills Coach Sean McDermott and other team representatives had focused solely on their well-being, without addressing whether the Bills’ Sunday game against the New England Patriots in Orchard Park, New York, will be played as scheduled.

“We have not had that discussion,” Vincent said in a videoconference with reporters. “We ... are just constantly talking to the clubs and in particular the

Bills. It’s really important that we just keep the pulse of the coach and the players and don’t get in front of that. And we’ll allow Sean and his team and his staff and the players, which are the most important thing here, to guide us if we have to make that decision collectively with the club.”

Rooney said in his televised interview that Hamlin, 24, was resuscitated once after his injury. Hamlin’s uncle, Dorrian Glenn, had said during an interview Tuesday with CNN that Hamlin had been resuscitated on the field and again at the hospital.

“He was only resuscitated once,” Rooney said. “Outside of that, things have just been moving in the right direction. But there’s not clarity at this point in terms of how long things are going to be, how long it’s going to take, where things are going to go. So for the family, it’s just a matter of seeing more positive signs and hopefully keep building on that.”

Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said the care given to Hamlin on the field Monday kept him alive.

“It’s certainly not an exaggeration to say that the skilled and the immediate response by all of these talented caregivers prevented a very tragic outcome at that moment,” Sills said.

Players including Tom ●

Brady, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson are listed among the top contributors to an online toy drive fundraiser set up by Damar Hamlin that’s received more than $6 million in donations.

Other top donors listed on Hamlin’s GoFundMe page include the New England Patriots and owner Robert Kraft, the Houston Texans, and Las Vegas Raiders’ wide receiver and his wife,

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