'Love you boys': Damar Hamlin speaks to his Buffalo Bills teammates

ORCHARD PARK — When the Buffalo Bills walked into the main meeting room at the team facility Friday morning, coach Sean McDermott had a surprise for them.

On the big screen was a live shot, via FaceTime, of Damar Hamlin in his hospital bed at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, with his breathing tube removed, another huge step in his long road to recovery.

McDermott spoke to reporters via Zoom and he said the call was brief, but Hamlin passed along three heart-felt words: “Love you boys.”

“Yeah, probably won't be able to do it justice, honestly, with words,” he said when asked to describe what it was like in the room when Hamlin’s face appeared on the screen. “Amazing, touching, to see Damar No. 1 through my own eyes. I know that's something I've been looking forward to, kind of needing to see I guess. And then to watch the reaction in the room with the players and the staff and the team. They didn't know that we were going to do that, we wanted to make sure that that was actually going to be able to happen with Damar’s medical schedule there.

“When I said that we had a treat in store, you could see the look in their eyes in anticipation of what was probably coming. And then to get the Zoom and when he came on the screen … to see the player's reaction, they stood up right away and clapped for him and yelled some things to him and it was a pretty cool exchange for a few seconds there.”

Hamlin had been able to write a couple thoughts since he woke up from induced sedation Wednesday night, but in addition to his brief words, he added a few hand signals to the mix Friday.

“He made hand signals, hand gestures,” McDermott said. “The thing that makes me laugh is he did this to the guys right away, he kind of flexed, and he's just got some staple things that they know him for and that he does. He made the heart symbol, probably more than anything. Then he gave them a thumbs up. Then somewhere in the midst of that, and it was a little bit hard to hear, but he said ‘love you boys’ and of course that got the guys.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Damar Hamlin speaks to Buffalo Bills teammates for first time on Zoom