Simmons also wants to be there for college teammate Tee Higgins, “one of my best friends” who was the Bengals play Hamlin tackled before suffering the heart attack. Higgins has gotten some unwarranted criticism for the happenstance of where he was on the play.
“I just want to check in on (Higgins) because this affects him as well,” Simmons said. “I just want to be the friend, the brother I would want in this situation.”
But Simmons also said he is approaching this week like any other, because worrying about getting injured, he said, makes it more likely it will happen.
Beachum, who will be a free agent after the season, said he too wants to continue playing next year. But when it comes to health, players do have to compartmentalize and “do you want to continue to compartmentalize and everything that comes with the game.”
Beachum is always there, though. He’ll be the lone offensive lineman to start all 17 games this season.
“He doesn’t have to be playing particularly in this situation,” Kingsbury said. “(He) had a sprained MCL, a sprained ankle and continues to play and wants to finish what he started. That says all you need to know about him.”
Beachum takes pride in being available, noting that his father and grandfather still get up every day to work on cars back home in Texas. And, Beachum said with a smile, he’s had some help.
“I’m drugged up enough where I can move on. I’m just being honest,” Beachum said. “I’ve got a week left, you play this game long enough, that’s what it is. Toradol has helped me quite a bit this year.”
Beachum wasn’t the only award winner. Safety Budda Baker, the team’s lone Pro Bowler, was voted the Lloyd Herberg team MVP. Baker, on IR with a shoulder injury, was not available for an interview.
Both awards are named after former Arizona Republic Cardinals beat writers who lost their lives. Schoenfeld was crossing a street when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2000; Herberg succumbed to cancer in 1994.
“I was with Rodney (Hudson) Monday night and he said, ‘One of the things you learn from seasons like this is you learn how to treat people,’ ” Beachum said. “Considering everything that has happened this year, the wins, the losses, the tough losses, the tough outcomes, you still have to treat people the right way.”
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