ALLEN PARK — Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was back at the team facility on Sunday, per the Associated Press. Norris was released from the Atlanta-area hospital and came home on Saturday.
Norris was injured on the first play of the fourth quarter in Friday night’s preseason matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. The 24-year-old initially went for a diving stop on Falcons running back Nathan Carter, when his facemask violently struck the running back’s thigh/knee area.
He was transported to a local hospital via ambulance. But every update since the scary situation unfolded has been positive.
The Lions said Norris was in stable condition and that he had movement and feeling in all of his extremities shortly after the game was called.
Norris himself posted to Instagram Saturday morning, saying, “Amen Amen I’m all good man don’t stress it appreciate all the check ins and love.”
Lions cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. also posted screenshots during FaceTime calls with Norris over the weekend, too.
The preseason game was eventually suspended after the injury. Bot only after Falcons quarterback Emory Jones snapped the ball, and both teams stood in place. They even locked arms in prayer while the clock ran from 14:50 to about 6:30 left in the fourth quarter, when officials suspended the game.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell credited Falcons head coach Raheem Morris for being a class act for how everything was handled Friday night in Atlanta.
“He’s the ultimate class act,” Campbell said Friday night. “We agreed that it just didn’t feel right to finish that game. That man is a class act (and) always has been.”
Campbell said he told the team after Norris was loaded into the ambulance that both the Lions and Falcons were going to take a knee for the rest of the game. Despite 8-plus minutes running off the clock on the play after Norris’ injury, the NFL’s official gamebook lists the final play at the time of the injury at 14:50.
There has not been an official injury update other than that Norris was stable and had movement and feeling in all of his extremities. However, the positive updates have continued to come in, with Norris returning to the team facility with his teammates just two days after the injury.
