During the Monday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills on January 2, 2023, millions of viewers watched in dismay and horror as one of the players collapsed on the field and was unresponsive after making a routine tackle. Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He was later revived and has recovered sufficiently to return home to Buffalo, New York. It is uncertain whether he will be able to play football again.

A day later, Benjamin Watson, former National Football League tight end and Super Bowl champion, discussed this event that jarred football fans and many others around the country in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

Watson shared his conversation with Cooper on Twitter using the caption:

"Life can change in the blink of an eye. Damar's injury has made us all wrestle with this truth. It has served as a reminder of our own mortality. While we pray for him as he fights for his life, we must ask ourselves where we will spend eternity?"

During the interview Cooper commented that Hamlin's injury was a reminder of the frailty of human life, to which Watson agreed by saying that these occasions dispel feelings of invincibility, bring us face to face with our own mortality, and remind us that we all have an appointment with death.