• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

NFL players opted to end the game by praying instead of playing Friday night in Atlanta. 

A preseason NFL game ended prematurely after Detroit Lions player Morice Norris was severely injured.

Norris was attended to for about 20 minutes on the field before an ambulance drove onto the field and the player was loaded into it on a stretcher.

With 14:50 left on the clock and the Lions ahead of the Falcons 17-10, Falcons quarterback Emory Jones took a snap and held the ball as players from both teams stood at the line of scrimmage and the clock continued to run. Then the two teams joined hands in prayer. 

Detroit coach Dan Campbell said afterward the decision was made by himself and Falcons coach Raheem Morris.

“Both sidelines were shaken up by the severity of Norris' head and neck injury,” according to Yahoo Sports. “Morris felt suspending the game was ‘the right thing to do’ and Campbell appreciated the Falcons head coach for how he handled the situation. ‘Raheem Morris is a class act,’ said Campbell after the game. ‘He's the ultimate class act. We agreed that it just didn't feel right to finish that game.’ Few had a problem with the decision to call the game, and the two head coaches clearly saw eye to eye on this situation. In past years, the game probably would have gone on even though the players would be emotionally checked out.”

With 6:31 left, an official announced the game had been suspended “per New York.”  

Play was officially suspended in the preseason game at 9:35 p.m. ET with 6:19 remaining in the game after an announcement from referee Shawn Hochuli, according to the NFL.

“In August 2023, two preseason games were stopped prematurely in consecutive weeks because of injuries,” according to EPSN. “The two frightening injuries happened after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during a regular-season game in Cincinnati in January 2023. Hamlin resumed football the following season and spent last year as a Bills starter.”

Halting games for injuries is a fairly new phenomenon. 

“For some fans, the 24-year-old Bills star’s medical emergency evokes the death of Chuck Hughes more than 50 years ago, who also collapsed during a game,” according to Time. “To date, Hughes remains the only NFL player to die after collapsing on the field, according to most sources. The teams did not suspend the game—but instead played the final minute as medics tried to save Hughes.”

The NFL’s 2025 Official Playing Rules Manual affirms that in “most circumstances all regular-season and postseason games should be played to their conclusion.” Only if NFL authorities believe it is impossible to continue a match because of an emergency, of which the league lists “severely inclement weather, lightning, flooding, power failure” as examples, should the game end.