LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson booted the ball 75 yard into the opposing end zone for a touchback to open the game, and then Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his offense spent 60 minutes tormenting his opponents in a 31-13 victory, a familiar site for Raiders fans.
And just like that, the National Football League soldiered on after a week of anguish and unanswered questions.
Five days after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed onto the field during a game and went into cardiac arrest — a terrifying scene that stretched for 10 minutes as medical personnel repeatedly compressed his chest and teammates and opponents wept — the N.F.L. returned Saturday afternoon with a consequential A.F.C. contest.
It was just one game, but it was a vitally important one for the N.F.L., which makes billions of dollars marketing a violent sport while hoping it never reaps the worst consequences of that violence. The gravity of the injury to Hamlin created a crisis for the league because it starkly reminded fans of the possibility that they could witness far worse than concussions and torn ligaments.
The game proceeded even as players were still processing what they had witnessed Monday night.
“I’ve never seen something where someone had been getting CPR and stuff like that on the field,” Mahomes told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t know if any of us have seen it. It hadn’t happened in such a long time, and you don’t think about that stuff when you’re stepping on the field.”
Asked whether Kansas City should even be playing this weekend, Mahomes hesitated. “It’s hard for me to say,” he said. “It’s not something that I can control either way.”
Once he stepped onto the field, however, it looked like any other N.F.L. game. There were spectacular plays, bad fumbles, fans mugging for the camera, halftime entertainment provided by a band past its prime, and in the end, a familiar outcome: a Kansas City victory and a Las Vegas loss.
More on Damar Hamlin’s Collapse
It was, with a slight twist on the old saw, any given Saturday. The few signs of the pall that Hamlin’s injury has cast over the league were mostly visible before the game.
Mahomes warmed up for the game in a cutoff hooded sweatshirt with an image of Hamlin and the words “Hamlin Strong” on the back, one of the many tributes to Hamlin at Allegiant Stadium.
Las Vegas Raiders players wore black warm-ups that said “Love For Damar” and had his No. 3 on the front. The No. 3 was outlined in dark blue, Buffalo Bills colors, on each 30-yard line.
“Throughout this week the entire N.F.L. family has been praying for Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills as he continues his recovery,” the public address announcer said before the national anthem was played. “The Raiders ask you to join us in a moment of support and love for Damar, and cheer for him and his family as they continue their fight.”
The Bills said Saturday that while Hamlin continues to make progress at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, he remains in critical condition. He is breathing on his own, however, and his neurological function is “excellent,” according to the team. On Friday, Hamlin spoke to some of his teammates on a video chat.
“On a long road keep praying for me!” read a new post on Hamlin’s Instagram account Saturday, the first direct communication from Hamlin since his injury.
Injuries are inevitable in football, and players are used to competing through pain that would sideline the average person. They are also accustomed to regrouping quickly and continuing to play even after watching teammates get carted off the field. The Raiders had to do that Saturday, when their already thin linebacker corps was hobbled even further when Harvey Langi left the game with a concussion.
Hamlin’s injury, though, which threatened his life, was not the kind of thing players could compartmentalize: It resulted in the game being postponed and eventually canceled, both of which are nearly without precedent in N.F.L. history.
“It’ll probably be in the back of people’s minds,” Raiders quarterback Jarrett Stidham said.
Around Las Vegas Friday and Saturday, it was hard to tell that anything was different. On Friday, thousands of Kansas City fans, bedecked in red and buying drinks with team-branded credit cards, packed onto every available plane and flew west for a Vegas weekend of fun.
With tickets already bought and hotel rooms reserved, they kept their plans. So did the Raiders fans in their face paint and spiked shoulder fans.
“It’s Raiders, and it’s Chiefs,” Kansas City Coach Andy Reid said on Wednesday. “It doesn’t get any better than that, so we’re looking forward to going out there and playing them.”
While the N.F.L. engineered tributes to Hamlin, few fans seemed to do so. There were a handful of fans wearing Bills jerseys at the stadium, though there were just as many in gear representing the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Seahawks and other teams.
Frank Nostro, 54, who was wearing a Josh Allen No. 17 Bills jersey, said he was watching as Hamlin got hit Monday night. “I thought it was just a regular hit — you see a lot of guys go down with a concussion or something like that,” he said. “But you see the replay and the panic in some of the coaches and the staff out there, and you realize it was something really bad.”
Nostro, who grew up in Buffalo and moved to Las Vegas 30 years ago, was mostly interested in seeing the Bills win. “I’m a Bills fan, I’ll always be a Bills fan, but if the Raiders win today, that helps Buffalo,” he said.
The Raiders did not help out the Bills, unfortunately for Nostro. With the victory, Kansas City finished the regular season with a 14-3 record and clinched a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
But with the N.F.L. opting not to resume the Bengals-Bills game that was postponed Monday night after Hamlin’s collapse, the first seed will not necessarily guarantee Kansas City home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If Buffalo defeats New England on Sunday, an A.F.C. Championship game between the two teams would be played at a yet-to-be-determined neutral site, since Buffalo will have a worse winning percentage but could have been the first seed if its game against the Bengals had been completed.
