Pride of Detroit
On Friday night, Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris suffered an injury when his head collided with Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter. Norris appeared to lose consciousness, and medical professionals rushed onto the scene with a backboard. After over 15 minutes of stoppage, Norris eventually had to be taken off the field in an ambulance.
After the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell offered a mildly optimistic update.
“He’s breathing, he’s talking. It’s good,” Campbell said. “He’s got some movement, and now they’re running more tests.”
In an emotional moment, the Lions and Falcons opted to forfeit the rest of the game, essentially the entire fourth quarter. Players prayed in circles, and joined together. Campbell praised Falcons coach Raheem Morris for getting together and collectively deciding to end the game.
“Raheem Morris is a class act, he’s the ultimate class act,” Campbell said. “We agreed that it just didn’t feel right to finish this game, and that man’s a class act. Always has been.”
That said, Campbell was still obviously emotional in the post-game press conference, noting that moments like this put life in perspective. That said, this can also bring out the best in people.
“Man, it’s a violent game, and we love it, but when something like this happens, the silver lining is, man, the brotherhood,” Campbell said. “To see all those guys from that team, our team kinda come together, everybody’s thinking about another player. It just means a lot”
The team announced Norris was transferred to a local hospital for more tests. Campbell noted that Norris’ mother was already there with him, and that several players wanted to see him before they travel back to Detroit.
“We’ll have—obviously some members are going to stay back. We have some players, I know that want to see him,” Campbell said. “We’re going to take care of him. I know his mom is with him, which is awesome. It’s good to hear.”
