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Following the news that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin woke up on Wednesday night and that his "neurologic function is intact," Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, whom Hamlin tackled prior to going into cardiac arrest on "Monday Night Football, is in a much better place internally after the tragic on-field incident. Especially after speaking with Hamlin's mother. 

"Everything's OK. He's [Hamlin] doing good, so I'm in a good place right now," Higgins said Thursday, via Fox19 in Cincinnati. "Just telling me that she's [Hamlin's mom] thinking of me, praying for me, and things like that. She's telling me he's [Hamlin] OK and all positive stuff. ... It feels good knowing that he's OK and doing better makes me feel better inside."

The 23-year-old wide receiver confirmed what almost everyone watching Monday's game between the Bills and Bengals was feeling: Continuing to play that game simply wasn't realistic or healthy for the players involved. 

"It was hard," Higgins said. "Obviously wasn't in a place to play the rest of that game, so I'm kind of glad we didn't return to play."

However, Higgins and the rest of the Bengals are doing the best they can to zero in on their next opponent, the Baltimore Ravens, with an AFC North division title on the line in Week 18.

"Obviously it's been hard, but I'm a professional football player at the end of the day, so I have to shift my focus to the Ravens and be prepared to win this game," Higgins said. "That's something that's hard to forget about, but at the end of the day we are professional football players and we have a job to do. We just have to shift our focus on to the Ravens."

Josh Allen, the face of the Bills' franchise, went out of his way Thursday as his press conference was winding down to get the message across that Hamlin's injury wasn't Higgins' fault in any way, calling it a "football play."

"I do want to say one more thing," Allen said Thursday, raising his finger as he said it to get everyone's attention. "I haven't reached out to Tee [Higgins], [but] I saw some stuff on Twitter. People should not be attacking him whatsoever, and I'm glad that Damar's family came out and said that. Hopefully, he found some relief today because that's a football play. I hope that he doesn't hold that upon himself because there's nothing else he could have done in that situation. I just wanted to say that, too."