Dan Campbell and Raheem Morris explain how both the Lions and Falcons decided to end their preseason game early

Dan Campbell and Raheem Morris explain how both the Lions and Falcons  decided to end their preseason game early - A to Z SportsAug 8, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris react after the game was suspended after an injury to Lions safety Morice Norris (26) (not shown) during the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

You just never want to see stuff like you saw in the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons preseason game on Friday night. Lions safety Morice Norris suffered a bad enough injury to be taken out of the game in an ambulance and taken to the hospital.

Normally, both teams would get back on the field and finish the game, but that is not what happened. Instead, the teams would get on the field, take a snap, and then just stand there until the clock ran down seven minutes and the league suspended the rest of the game. It’s not something we’ve seen before in the NFL, but it was the right thing to do. Both Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Falcons head coach Raheem Morris explained what happened ahead of that.

“Raheem Morris is a class act. Is the ultimate class act.” Campbell said. “So, you know, we agreed that it just didn’t feel right to finish that game, and that man’s a class act always has been…And I told them, we’re taking knees. We’re going to take knees for the rest of the game. They are, and we are till this thing’s over.”

Morris didn’t say too much more in an understandably muted presser, but he reiterated that both coaches agreed that for Norris’ family, it didn’t feel right to continue that game. He also said that he wasn’t concerned that the league would have any sort of repercussions for either team deciding to take knees until the league suspended the game.

As for what Campbell said to his team before that, he told the players to pray for Norris and that Norris was breathing. That was all they knew at the time.

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