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CINCINNATI — The moment will never leave Tyler Boyd. Like anyone inside Paycor Stadium on Jan. 2, seeing Damar Hamlin lying on the turf and the nightmare that followed will forever be embedded in their minds.

It was unforgettable. As was Hamlin’s incredible, stirring recovery.

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Yet, football players are trained to move on. Snap and clear. Move the drill. Next man up.

So, Boyd, like the rest of the football world, did just that. He moved on. Playing a game the following Sunday and making a run to the AFC Championship Game.

This was different, though. Specifically for the fellow Pittsburgh native, Boyd, who watched Hamlin follow in his footsteps at the University of Pittsburgh and cultivated a meaningful friendship along the way. Wondering if his friend would die on the field alters the definition of this sport and, specifically, the scariest moments.

Ten months later, as Hamlin returns to Cincinnati on Sunday with the Buffalo Bills, Boyd can see the effect the night had on his view of his violent profession. He couldn’t just strap on the pads and totally forget what happened.

“It took a few games last year,” Boyd said. “As you keep playing ball and go through it you kind of can’t play with things on your mind because you might not play the football you need to play with the scheme. But at the same time, you still got it on your mind, like, how the hell can something like that happen? I had to just continue to go out there and play the game.”

Hamlin’s recovery played the largest role, of course. The moment is now viewed as a societal success where in a time of tragedy everyone came together for a greater good. For Hamlin, his foundation, his smile and his kind soul.

“It’s just an unbelievable miracle that it’s played out that way,” Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “I know that everybody’s thankful for that. And it was great to see just communities come together for a really positive benefit and it’s turned into a lot of good.”

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Hamlin returned to Cincinnati this summer as his Chasing M’s Foundation launched a CPR tour providing free, hands-on training while advocating for access to automated external defibrillators (AED).

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Both teams enter this Week 9 matchup and his return with a focus on football. Hamlin has only been active for one game this season, but even making the team was an incredible success.

“What happened is in the past,” Joe Burrow said. “I think everybody remembers it, but you know (we’re) not going to dwell on it. I know he’s not, either.”

Hamlin almost feels like part of the city and team, in a way, after the way he was embraced in his recovery. His high school and college teammate, Cal Adomitis, plays long snapper for the Bengals and attended his charity softball event this summer. Plus, through his connection to Boyd, Hamlin, Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase spent two days together in Las Vegas this summer riding dune buggies and hanging out, tightening a bond now shared through those experiences.

That night didn’t make anyone quit the game. Or fight for new rules or protections. That was football. That was “one-in-a-million,” Boyd pointed out. They know what they signed up for.

Even though it might seem on the surface everyone moved on, there are specific moments where Boyd is reminded he has not.

“Any big hit now or when you are down and can sense body language it is taking a little while for them to get up,” Boyd said, “it always triggers.”

What does it trigger, exactly?

The frightening images that sent Bills teammates crying into each other’s arms and fear while watching the ambulance drive away as the game was postponed are part of it.

“It goes through your mind, what if that was me?” Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson said. “That could have been me.”

But, in retrospect, the true, lasting effect of that night for those on the Bengals’ side of the field came in the form of unforgettable wisdom and perspective.

“(Memories) still might come out when you see guys down, lengthy,” Boyd said, referencing the scary scene with Bills’ running back Damien Harris earlier this season. “The same thing happened. You think about that the same way, had to be carted off. But, end of the day, you can do nothing but pray on it for nothing but the best. I try to just stay the course. You got to play.”

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Much like the story of Hamlin, the surprising plot twist of the frightening moment is the good created in the long haul. That same is true for the mindset Bengals players can say they have about the game and the potentially life-threatening injuries they could sustain on the field.

Once again, wisdom and perspective were the longest-lasting effects.

“In those moments, too, you try to think about how great of a job all the medical staff and all the athletic trainers did,” Adomitis said. “So it’s like, all right, even if something like that — God willing it never does happen — but even if it did happen, the trainers and doctors and everyone on the sideline are prepared to handle it. And probably now, too, even more prepared than ever with their additional training and real-life training everyone is doing, using that experience as something to learn off of. All right, we are in good hands out there.”

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Damar Hamlin's emergency team looks back: 'It was me, God and that kid'

(Top photo of, from left, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Ja’Marr Chase paying homage to Damar Hamlin in January: Emilee Chinn / Associated Press)

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