Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris is in stable condition after he suffered a sickening injury in a NFL preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night.
Norris was treated on the field for about 20 minutes and taken off the field in an ambulance with the game ending early.
‘Morice Norris is in stable condition and has feeling and movement in all his extremities,’ the Lions said in a statement.
‘He will remain at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta overnight for observation. We would like to thank the Atlanta Falcons organization, the EMS team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the doctors and staff at Grady for their support.’
Norris, 24, was left motionless on the turf after appearing to take an inadvertent knee to the helmet while attempting to tackle Falcons running back Nathan Carter early in the fourth quarter.
NFL fans were overwhelmed by the players’ response to the critical injury during Friday’s preseason opener in Atlanta.
Lions safety Morice Norris is in stable condition after he suffered a sickening injury on Friday
Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions players pray after an injury to safety Morice Norris
Norris went undrafted in the 2024 NFL Draft but still managed to catch on with the Lions’ practice squad after initially failing to make the team. Later he would be signed to the roster
Players responded to the frightening scene in two ways. First, members of both the Falcons and Lions joined together at midfield to pray for their injured colleague. And when the game resumed, Atlanta quarterback Emory Jones simply held the ball as players from both teams stood still, allowing the clock to run down to 6:31.
At that point, an official announced the preseason game had been suspended by the league offices in New York with the Lions leading 17-10.
Fans were clearly touched by the gestures, which seemed to have a major impact online.
‘Absolute masterclass in sportsmanship by the Falcons and Lions,’ one fan wrote online. ’50 players trying to make an NFL roster and they rally around their fallen brother in arms and run out the clock.
‘Big prayers up to Morice Norris.’
‘This is genuinely the classiest thing I’ve ever seen during a football game,’ read a post from The Detroit Times. ‘Both teams agreeing to run out the clock completely out of respect for Morice Norris.’
‘I’m crying,’ another fan added. ‘The players are letting the clock run out and standing together praying for Morice Norris. This is unbelievably powerful.’
Others called the scene a ‘powerful moment of Humanity’ while a few simply expressed their ‘respect’ for both sides.
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris
The last NFL game to be suspended due to a player injury was in January of 2023, when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest after trying to make a tackle on Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins.
Hamlin was revived on the field and has since made his return to the NFL.
The game was never finished, although both teams still reached the postseason anyway.
After an impressive college career at Fresno State, Norris went undrafted in the 2024 NFL Draft but still managed to catch on with the Lions’ practice squad after failing to make the team out of training camp.
Later, following a string of late-season injuries to Lions players, Norris was signed off the practice squad and made his NFL debut in Detroit’s playoff loss to the Washington Commanders.
