Detroit Lions player conscious after being taken off field in an ambulance during preseason game

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Atlanta —

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris is breathing and conscious after suffering a scary head injury during Friday night’s NFL preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons that led to the game being suspended in the fourth quarter.

The 24-year-old was taken off the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field on a stretcher and lifted into an ambulance after a hit to the head while making a tackle in the fourth quarter. The Lions said Norris was taken the hospital for “further evaluation.”

Lions head coach Dan Campbell shared a positive update saying Norris is breathing, talking and had some movement in his extremities.

“It’s an eye opener,” an emotional Campbell told reporters. “It’s just an eye opener. It hits a little different and it puts things into perspective. Man, its a violent game and we love it. But when something like this happens, the silver lining is, man, that brotherhood.

“To see all those guys, from that team to our team, kind of come together and everybody is thinking about another player, it just means a lot.”

As Norris attempted to tackle Falcons running back Nathan Carter, he was hit in the head by Carter’s knee in the process. He immediately dropped to the turf and appeared unconscious. The Falcons training staff ran onto the field almost immediately after noticing his injury and the Lions training staff was there soon after.

After Norris was tended to on the field by both teams’ medical staffs, he was loaded onto the waiting ambulance and driven off. When the game resumed, the Falcons snapped the ball but neither team did anything, instead gathering on the field in a circle to pray after a few minutes of discussion.

One of the first responders who rushed onto the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to tend to Norris told CNN Sports that the defensive back was speaking on the field before being taken away in the ambulance.

In a surreal scene, the game clock ran for more than eight minutes as the players prayed together before the game was halted.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said he and Campbell made the decision to not continue playing the game.

NFL officials in New York made the call to suspend the game.

The Lions led 17-10 when play was suspended.

Morris called it a “tough situation” while giving “thoughts and prayers” to Norris and his family.

“It’s tough to even talk to those guys, they’re so emotional about the game,” Morris told reporters on what he said to his players following the injury.

“So emotional about what we do. They all got a lot respect for the other players in this game and that was the ultimate show of it by the teams right there. Just got to pray for Morice Norris and his family.”

The Falcons said in a post on X, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Morice Norris, his family, and the Lions organization.”

Campbell called Morris an “ultimate class act” for the mutual decison made to not continue playing.

“We agreed it just didn’t feel right to finish that game and that man is a class act, always has been,” Campbell said.

In a scene reminiscent of the 2023 incident in which Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin experienced a cardiac arrest on the field during a game, football quickly became an afterthought for both the teams and the fans in attendance.

The crowd cheered when they realized that the teams had decided to gather in solidarity and let the clock run rather than resuming play after the injury to Morris.

CNN has reached out to the Lions and NFL for a further update but did not immediately hear back.

This story and its headline have been updated with additional reporting.

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