August 10, 2025
Norris’ injury to his head and neck area during the fourth quarter of preseason game between the Lions and Falcons ended the game as both sides refused to continue playing.
The Detroit Lions provided an encouraging update regarding the status of Morice Norris, a formerly undrafted second-year safety, whose injury to his head and neck area during the fourth quarter of the Aug. 8 preseason game between the Lions and Falcons brought an end to the game as both sides refused to continue playing and let the clock run out on the game.
According to a statement the team released on its X account after his injury, “Morice Norris is in stable condition and has feeling and movement in all his extremities. He will remain at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta overnight for observation.”
They concluded, “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.”
As The Athletic reported, during the press conference after the game’s conclusion, Lions head coach Dan Campbell offered praise to Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, after the two coaches came to an agreement that the game did not need to continue after the injury.
Campbell noted that the team received “some positive information” about the status of Norris, before continuing, “He’s breathing. He’s talking. He’s got some movement. They are running more tests. Raheem Morris is a class act. He is the ultimate class act. We agreed it just didn’t feel right to finish the game. That man is a class act, always has been.”
Campbell concluded, “I told them (the Detroit Lions players) we are taking knees, they are and we are until this thing is over. The kid just wants to get better every day. I don’t even know what else to say. We will have some team members stay back. We have some players who want to see him. I know his mom is with him.”
Morris also addressed the injury in his comments to the media, stating his belief that ending the game was the right call for both teams.
“There’s not a lot of times that happens,” Morris said. “I can’t sit here and tell you I have been through a lot of those or seen a lot of those. I don’t think any of us have. That was the moment, the decision. It was the right thing for (both) football teams.”
Players from both teams also addressed the incident in their comments to reporters.
Falcons wide receiver Casey Washington said that he is sure that Norris is being looked after by a higher power and noted how difficult it was for him to see an injury like that.
“As soon as it happened, I just took a knee and started praying. I know God is watching out for us. I know he’s got a hand on him. I’m praying for his mom and praying for his family. Everybody on the sideline was just standing there, and the clock continued to go. It was tough. All the players were affected by it. We have been playing this game since the age of 5, and to see something like that is tough to see. It’s emotional. God bless him.”
Norris’ teammate, quarterback Kyle Allen, noted that although players know how violent the game of football is, they never expect an injury like the one they watched happen to Norris to occur.
“It’s just awful. You sign up for football, you understand risk and putting your body on the line, but you never think something like that is going to happen. We’ve all played football our whole lives, and when you’re on that field and see that, you understand how dangerous it really is out there. At the end of the day, we’re all football players,” Allen said.
The morning after the game, Norris posted an update on his Instagram account, captioning a Bible devotional he posted with a short message, “I’m all good…appreciate all the check ins and love.”
On the local Detroit-area broadcast of the game, play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti offered his perspective on the way that the Lions and Falcons head coaches elected to end the game; it stood in stark contrast to the way a previous traumatic injury to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin played out in 2023.
“It is one of the beautiful reminders of how we are all connected in life…” Benetti said on the game broadcast. “No matter what color you’re wearing, no matter what helmet you’re wearing, no matter what belief you have, somebody’s down and hurt. You don’t know about them. You take care of your heart and their heart and everybody’s heart in the building and beyond — and the Lions and Falcons have given everybody a lesson tonight in humanity.”
Despite this, however, although the teams clearly had no interest in completing the game, it took the game’s officials approximately eight minutes—the teams snapped the ball and gathered in a circle without attempting an actual play as time ticked off the clock—before they officially suspended the game.
This context isn’t all that different from the questions that surrounded the lack of action from the league following Hamlin’s injury, questions like “why would the NFL continue the game at all after players just watched a player get taken off the field on a stretcher?”
As Campbell noted, watching both teams come together after the traumatic injury was a reminder of just how fleeting an NFL career can be.
“It’s just an eye-opener. It hits. It hits a little different, and it puts things in perspective. I tell you what, man, it’s a violent game. We love it, but when stuff like this happens, the silver lining is the brotherhood. To see all those guys, from that team, our team kind of come together and everybody is thinking about another player, it just means a lot.”
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