Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker Alex Highsmith has apologized for a sack dance that saw teammate DeMarvin Leal pretend to perform CPR on him.
In the waning seconds of Sunday’s fourth quarter game against the Cleveland Browns, Highsmith sacked quarterback Deshaun Watson. Highsmith then lay down on the ground to celebrate, and Leal pretended to perform CPR on his teammate.
This poorly timed celebration led to plenty of backlash across the NFL world. Six days earlier, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest while trying to tackle Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.
Medical personnel managed to restore Hamlin’s heartbeat before he was taken away in an ambulance to a hospital. The 24-year-old Hamlin was discharged from the hospital on Monday and returned to Buffalo.
Per Brian Getko of the the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Highsmith apologized for the celebration and emphasized it wasn’t his intention to offend:
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“I just don’t want people to think of me that way and think I was doing anything (intentional). Because I would never, ever, ever, ever want to do that intentionally, and I never ever would do that…
I just want people to know that I have nothing but love for Damar and his family,” Highsmith said. “When that happened, I was shook for a couple days. Me and my wife, we were watching the game, we immediately saw it and intentionally started praying, intentionally prayed for him, his parents, the doctors, the nurses. Because me and her, we’re both followers of Christ. We both believe that prayer is powerful, and I’m just thankful for the miraculous work God has done with Damar’s life. I just want people to know that there was nothing intentional about that. It was never planned, none of that.”
The 27-year-old Highsmith had a career year for the Steelers, who dealt with a plethora of injuries on the defensive side of the ball throughout 2022. Highsmith registered 14.5 and five forced fumbles, helping Pittsburgh achieve a third straight winning season.
