Buffalo, New York - Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins said the entire team is "devastated" after witnessing teammate Damar Hamlin suffer a cardiac arrest during Monday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hamlin was administered CPR on the field before being loaded into an ambulance and rushed to hospital, with the game being suspended halfway through the first quarter.

The Bills confirmed he is currently sedated and in a critical condition, while Hamlin's uncle Dorrian Glenn told NFL Network that his nephew is on a ventilator.

Speaking to CNN, Dawkins reflected on the frightening moment when he realized this was not a normal situation.

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"I seen Tre [Tre'Davious White] turn around, I seen Dane [Jackson] sprint over towards him," he said. "You see the medical staff doing their job, when things like this are going on and they’re waving really fast and calling for the elite medical staff, that’s when we realized something is really really wrong."

"In that moment you kind of just realize you really can’t take anything for granted. It’s just a drastic state ... you’re thinking 'what can I do?'"

"It immediately breaks you down into prayer, whether you’re a believer or not. In that moment you kind of just have to be vulnerable."

Dawkins went on to discuss the risks each player takes every time they step on the field.

"All of us out there, we’re giving our lives to this game," he said. "Not one second of our life is promised, this play has shown this."

"This play has taken a 24-year-old man to his knee and he’s fighting. This is real life. Football is real, it takes 100% to play this game. He gives it his all and he’s still giving it his all to this second."

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"Damar is a fighter and he’s going to keep fighting. He’s gonna make it and he’s going to just keep pushing."

He added: "We are all devastated, it’s a shock to all of us. It’s a dramatically unique thing that has happened."

"We’re all going through it together. We’re all handling it in different ways."