Thomas Morstead – January 4, 2023
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Wednesday, January 4, 2023
P Thomas Morstead
(On Damar Hamlin collapsing in the Monday Night Football game) – “Look, it was on the biggest stage – Monday Night Football, the whole world is watching. It’s something that we’re told as players that the teams are prepared for, but I personally have never seen that in action. Just talking to players today, we addressed it as a team. We talked about it before we talked about anything to do with our plan for the week, and really, the message for me personally was he’s fortunate that that happened where it happened. You want to either be on an NFL football field or in the emergency room when something like that happens. I think there’s over 30 medical specialists that have all sorts of different specialties that are on the field. And from everything that we’ve seen and that we’ve been told, the response was about as good and swift and quick as it could have been. Obviously, it’s a scary thing for people to witness. I don’t want to drudge through the details of it, but it’s not just players that you worry about. It’s players’ wives, girlfriends, families and kids that see that. It was just more of a reinforcement that we really do have the best specialists in the world that are looking out for us and caring for us. A lot of times – I know we’ve had some things happen this year medically that have been questioned, and we’re always looking to get better as a league, and I know the players are always wanting to kind of make gains in that area as well. But I hope that the league and the union and everybody would highlight, regardless of the outcome – we’re all praying for a very positive one, and it looks like it’s trending in the right direction, but I would hope that the league and the union and players and everyone would really celebrate and highlight the amazing response and work that all those people did. It really should be an encouragement to players and their families that we have the best people out there, so that was kind of one of the main points. Then another point was really just making sure that players aren’t tough guys. We’re all football players, tough guys but we all have feelings. Making sure that guys are taking care of themselves and getting what they need, whether it’s reaching out to a coach, player, family. Maybe you’re getting pressure from family because you have a worried wife or a worried mom, or dad, or whatever, or kid. We have all the resources available – people you can speak with and if you don’t want to reach out to somebody in person, we put something in everybody’s locker today to be able to email or to call somebody that you don’t really know but that is somebody that’s professional that can kind of help out in that area. Because some people, it hits you immediately and other people, I’m kind of like this, I’m a routine person. What do you do when things go wrong, or you’re kind of out of your norm? You go back to your routine, and then if the season’s over, whether it’s over this week, or over in six weeks, then you’re alone by yourself. That’s more of what my concern would be is once guys get out and away from other guys in locker rooms.”
(You said some of those resources are actually in house?) – “There are some in house. There are also some that are provided by the union and the league. I don’t know what who to give credit to, if that makes sense. But yeah, we’re just making sure that everybody knows that those are available. And those are available regardless of this happening. They’re always available. We’re able to use any of those resources year-round. Your significant other is allowed to use those resources as well. This highlights that and helps us highlight that these are always things that are available, especially right now.”
(What’s your sense of just the locker room and being able to emotionally bottle this and understand that you guys have to win Sunday?) – “I don’t want to speak for anybody else. There’s people in this locker room that have a brother that plays for the Buffalo Bills that was part of that. So his emotions may be different than somebody that has no connection. I know there’s some other people that have played with Damar (Hamlin) in college or played against him. People have relationships all over. So it’s going to hit people differently. Maybe – not that I’m speculating this, but maybe you’re somebody that has a family history of heart issues and that just spooks you. So there’s just things. I think Coach (Mike) McDaniel really said it nicely. It’s not right or wrong to – how you feel is not right or wrong. It’s just how you feel. And whatever that is, it’s okay. But I think the really good pros that I’ve been around are able to compartmentalize things. But again, if this hits you a certain way, that may not matter. And so I think it’s just making sure that – that’s why I thought it was great that coach started today off not about the Jets or our situation as a team, but it was more let’s acknowledge what’s happened and make sure that everybody knows that we have resources available. But the sense for me is for me personally, his is my 221st game this coming weekend and my wife and kids will be here. I don’t have any plans of retiring and I certainly don’t have any plans of this being our last game of the season. But having said all that, I know I still love doing this so it’s always kind of tough at the end of the season, whenever that last game is. Hopefully it’s not this weekend. But I think back to being a high school kid and walking on in college and you just get a chance to play one more time. I try to think about the opportunity and how exciting it is. My kids are old enough to be watching me play and know and they’ll remember it, so I don’t take any of that for granted. I’m just excited to be here and get another shot at it.”
