More so than anything — more than watching the starters, more than feeling the excitement of rookies making their unofficial NFL debut, and certainly more than caring about the scoreboard — coaches want to use the preseason to evaluate as much of their roster as possible. It’s why the first stringers only play a series or two before ceding to backups and youngsters. It’s these reps — not the starters’ — that are invaluable as teams try to whittle their roster down from 90 to 53 in the coming weeks.
But Friday night, those priorities changed. Nothing mattered more than Morice Norris’ health. The Detroit Lions cornerback suffered a serious injury when his head snapped backwards after colliding with the thigh/knee area of Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter on the first play of the fourth quarter. Norris appeared to lose consciousness thereafter.
Norris received medical attention for several minutes before being loaded into an ambulance. The Lions broadcast crew noted Norris was blinking his eyes when he was taken off the field, and coach Dan Campbell said postgame that Norris was breathing, speaking, and had some movement. Later Friday night, the Lions announced Norris was in “stable condition with feeling and movement in all his extremities.”
It left an eery scene at Mercedes-Benz Stadium — one that turned into both teams electing to run out the final minutes of the clock and ending the game. Falcons quarterback Emory Jones took a snap and held onto the ball, and members of both teams gathered at the center of the field. The NFL officially suspended the game with 6:19 remaining with the Lions leading 17-10.
“[Falcons coach] Raheem Morris is a class act,” Campbell said. “He is the ultimate class act. We agreed it just didn’t feel right to finish the game. That man is a class act. Always has been.
“It’s just an eye-opener,” Campbell continued. “It hits a little different and it puts things in perspective. I tell you what, man, it’s a violent game. We love it, but when stuff like this happens, the silver lining is the brotherhood. To see all those guys, from that team, our team kind of come together and everybody is thinking about another player, it just means a lot.”
“I told them we are taking knees — they are and we are — until this thing is over,” he said. “The kid just wants to get better every day. I don’t even know what else to say. We will have some team members stay back. We have some players who want to see him. I know his mom is with him.”
Morris explained his side of the proceedings as well.
“There’s not a lot of times that happens,” Morris said. “I can’t sit here and tell you I have been through a lot of those or seen a lot of those. I don’t think any of us have. That was the moment, the decision. It was the right thing for [both] football teams.”
Players agreed with the decision to suspend the game.
“I don’t think anyone on that sideline wanted to play,” said Lions quarterback Kyle Allen, per ESPN. “We weren’t part of that decision, but you could just look in everyone’s eyes and see it wasn’t worth it.”
“Thoughts are heavy right now,” said Falcons wide receiver Casey Washington. “That was hard to see. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Some things are bigger than football, and situations like that, all you can do is pray for his family and hope that he’s all right. It was tough.”
“We’re just trying to show respect to him, and that’s, I think, where everyone’s thoughts are right now,” Falcons quarterback Easton Stick said.
Those quotes, of course, are coming from players who are facing roster battles as well. Allen had come off the field just three plays earlier after throwing his second touchdown pass of the evening, rebounding after a difficult Hall of Fame Game. Stick and Washington are pushing for 53-man spots of their own.
In an ideal world, of course, players like those three — and plenty more — want to see the game finish out. But Friday, with their livelihoods potentially on the line, Norris’ life took precedence, and rightly so.