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Alaina GetzenbergESPN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Bills cornerback Dane Jackson has been released from the hospital following a neck injury, with the team saying that he suffered no major injury to his neck or spinal cord.
The cornerback was taken off the field in an ambulance during the Bills’ 41-7 win over the Tennessee Titans on Monday night. He received a CT scan and an X-ray at the hospital and is undergoing further evaluation Tuesday.
Jackson was transported to Erie County Medical Center after teammate Tremaine Edmunds inadvertently made contact with Jackson’s head/neck area while trying to assist in tackling receiver Treylon Burks in the last minute of the second quarter.
“Definitely a tough play. Just kind of saw the receiver still up, just trying to finish the play,” Edmunds said. “A situation that obviously, I didn’t do intentionally. I would never try to do something like that to my teammate, but like I said … the receiver was still up, I was just trying to finish him to the ground and unfortunately, I end up hitting Dane.”
Edmunds noted that Jackson gave a thumbs-up before leaving the stadium.
The entire Bills team came off the sideline to check on Jackson as he was eventually placed on a stretcher and taken off the field. The game was paused for about 10 minutes while Jackson was tended to.
Coach Sean McDermott had a chance to speak with Jackson in the stadium tunnel at halftime before Jackson was taken to the hospital.
“It says a lot about the guys, how much they care about each other [that they came out onto the field],” McDermott said. “And the game is important and trying to win a game is important, but there’s bigger things, especially at that moment when your teammate’s down there and just trying to care for him everywhere we could.”
“It felt terrible. It felt like one of my brothers was down,” Hamlin said. “And with the severity of how it happened, it just made it even more extreme. ‘Cause it didn’t seem like just [a] regular injury. But once I talked to him, once he told me he was good on the field — we got that kind of bond where he’s going to let me know if something up, so, I’m praying for him, and I know he’ll be OK.”
Safety Damar Hamlin is a close friend and former college teammate of Jackson’s. Linebacker Tyrel Dodson consoled him on the sideline with emotions running high.
Jackson, a 2020 seventh-round pick out of the Pittsburgh, has been the Bills’ No. 1 cornerback while Tre’Davious White remains on the reserve/PUP list recovering from a torn ACL. He had two tackles before exiting the game and had his second career interception in the Bills’ season opening win against the Rams. Jackson, 25, started six regular-season games and two playoff games in place of White last year.
Rookie cornerbacks Christian Benford and Kaiir Elam have been rotating opposite Jackson and both played when he exited the game.
“To know that he’s been released from the hospital, prayers up for him and his family,” wide receiver Stefon Diggs said on First Take. “As a team, we’re gonna get behind him. We’re going to do it for 30. That’s one of our guys. We love him, and we just gotta put football to the side sometimes and realize that it’s bigger than that. A guy is actually injured and it’s his life. Just sending him a lot of love and a lot of good energy.”