Lions-Falcons preseason game ends early after serious injury to Detroit's Morice Norris

ATLANTA (AP) — Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was in stable condition after he was attended to for about 20 minutes and taken off the field in an ambulance Friday night against Atlanta, with the preseason game ending early.

“Morice Norris is in stable condition and has feeling and movement in all his extremities,” the Lions said in a statement. “He will remain at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta overnight for observation. We would like to thank the Atlanta Falcons organization, the EMS team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the doctors and staff at Grady for their support.”

Norris was hurt with 14:50 to go trying to tackle running back Nathan Carter. When play resumed, Falcons quarterback Emory Jones took a snap and held the ball as players from both teams stood at the line of scrimmage as the clock continued to run.

Finally, with 6:31 left, an official announced the game had been suspended “per New York” with Detroit up 17-10.

Lions coach Dan Campbell asked for prayers for the 24-year-old Norris.

"We’re just praying for Mo and ask that everybody prays for him,” Campbell said.

Campbell said Norris had his mother with him at the hospital.

Norris, the former Fresno State player listed as Detroit's second-team safety, hit Carter with his facemask facing the running back’s midsection, and the defender's head snapped back after making the hit.

Lions quarterback Kyle Allen said it was immediately obvious the medical personnel saw this as a serious injury.

“Usually you see a couple trainers out there,” Allen said. “It’s never good when they bring out the stretchers. We just started praying for him and hoping for the best. When it’s taking that long, with that many people and that many trainers around him, you’re just hoping for the best.”

Added Allen: “It’s just awful. ... You sign up for football and you understand the risk, you understand the injury risk. You never think something like that is going to happen.

“At the end of the day we’re all out here as football players. We may be on 32 different teams but we’ve all played football our whole lives and had our own injuries and been through it.”

Campbell and Falcons coach Raheem Morris made the decision to not finish the game.

“Raheem Morris is a class act,” Campbell said. “He's the ultimate class act. We agreed it just didn't feel right to finish that game.”

Morris said it was “common courtesy” for the coaches to decide to not finish the game.

“It was tough to watch,” Morris said. “It was tough for the other team to see getting a teammate hurt that way. It was the right thing to do for Dan and his crew and his team and everything we had going on right there, I thought that was the right thing.

“You never like to see anybody get hurt in any type of game or any type of way. It was a tough deal for those guys, a tough deal for us, a tough deal all across the board.”

Allen said the decision to not finish the game was easy to make.

“I don't think anyone on that sideline wanted to play,” Allen said. “We weren't part of that decision but you could look in anyone’s eyes and see that.”

Though the decision to not finish the game seemed dramatic, there were two precedents from preseason games in consecutive weeks in August 2023.

New England’s game at Green Bay in Week 2 of the 2023 preseason was called off when Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was carted off in the fourth quarter. Bolden appeared to collide with teammate Calvin Munson while attempting to make a hit on a pass completion to Malik Heath of the Packers.

Bolden was taken to a hospital and released the next day.

A week later, a game between Miami and Jacksonville was not completed after Dolphins receiver Daewood Davis was carted off in the fourth quarter. Davis was hurt when he ran a slant route and was attempting to catch a pass when he was hit by Jaguars linebacker Dequan Jackson.

Davis was released from the hospital a day later.

The two frightening injuries happened some eight months after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during a regular season game at Cincinnati in January 2023. Hamlin has enjoyed a remarkable recovery and resumed football the following season and spent last year as a Bills starter.

AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Atlanta Falcons players pray after their NFL preseason football game was suspended after Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was injured Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions players stand on the field hand in hand together after Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was injured during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions players stand on the field after safety Morice Norris was injured during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Atlanta Falcons Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Medical personnel aid Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) after he was injured against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions players take a knee after safety Morice Norris was injured against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta Falcons players pray after their NFL preseason football game was suspended after Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was injured Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions players stand on the field hand in hand together after Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was injured during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions players stand on the field after safety Morice Norris was injured during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Atlanta Falcons Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Medical personnel aid Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) after he was injured against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris (26) is hit in the helmet by Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter (38) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before President Donald Trump's administration started dismantling the Education Department, the agency served as a powerful enforcer in cases of sexual violence at schools and universities. It brought the weight of the government against schools that mishandled sexual assault complaints involving students.

That work is quickly fading away.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights was gutted in Trump’s mass layoffs last year, leaving half as many lawyers to investigate complaints of discrimination based on race, sex or disability in schools. Those who remain face a backlog of more than 25,000 cases.

Investigations have dwindled. Before the layoffs last March, the office opened dozens of sexual violence investigations a year. Since then, it's opened fewer than 10 nationwide, according to internal data obtained by The Associated Press.

Yet Trump's Republican administration has doubled down on sexual discrimination cases of another kind. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes. The Office for Civil Rights has opened nearly 50 such investigations since Trump took office a year ago.

Even before the layoffs, critics said the office was understaffed and moved too slowly. Now, many firms that handle Title IX cases have stopped filing complaints, calling it a dead end.

“It almost feels like you’re up against the void,” said Katie McKay, a lawyer at the New York firm C.A. Goldberg.

“It feels like a big question mark right now,” she said. “How are we supposed to hold a school accountable once it has messed up?”

An Education Department spokesperson said the office is working through its caseload, blaming President Joe Biden's Democratic administration for leaving a backlog and rewriting Title IX rules to protect LGBTQ+ students. Trump officials rolled back those rules.

“The Trump Administration has restored commonsense safeguards against sexual violence by returning sex-based separation in intimate facilities,” spokesperson Julie Hartman said. “OCR is and will continue to safeguard the dignity and safety of our nation’s students.”

The layoffs have slowed work at the Office for Civil Rights across the board, but it has an outsize impact on cases of sexual violence. Students who are mistreated by their schools — including victims and accused students alike — have few other venues to pursue justice.

Many are now left with two options: File a lawsuit or walk away.

One woman said she’s losing hope for a complaint she filed in 2024. She alleges her graduate school failed to follow its own policies when it suspended but didn't expel another student found by the school to have sexually assaulted her. No one has contacted her about the complaint since 2024.

The woman recently sued her school as a last resort. She said it feels like a David and Goliath mismatch.

“They have all the power, because there is no large organization holding them accountable. It’s just me, just this one individual who’s filing this simple suit," the woman said. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission.

The civil rights office is supposed to provide a free alternative to litigation. Anyone can file a complaint, which can trigger an investigation and sanctions for schools that violate federal law.

In 2024, the agency received more than 1,000 complaints involving sexual violence or sexual harassment, according to an annual report.

It’s unclear how many complaints have been filed more recently. Trump's administration has not reported newer figures. In conversations with the AP, some staffers said cases are piling up so quickly they can’t track how many involve sexual violence.

In December, the department acknowledged the civil rights backlog and announced dozens of downsized workers would be brought back to the office amid a legal challenge to their layoffs. The workers' return offers some hope to those with pending civil rights complaints. Department officials have vowed to keep pushing for the layoffs.

Before Trump was elected to his second term, the office had more than 300 pending investigations involving sexual assault, according to a public database. Most of those cases are believed to be sitting idle as investigators prioritize easier complaints, according to staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The details of past cases underscore the urgency of the work.

In 2024, the office took action against a Pennsylvania school system after a girl with a disability told staff she had been sexually touched by a bus driver. She was put back on that driver’s bus later that afternoon, plus the next two days. The district was required to designate a Title IX coordinator for its schools, review previous complaints and consider compensation for the girl's family.

That year, the office demanded changes at a Montana school where a boy was pinned down by other students and assaulted after a wrestling practice. The students had been suspended for three days after school officials treated it as a case of hazing instead of sexual assault.

In another case, the office sided with a University of Notre Dame student who had been expelled over accusations of sexual misconduct. The student said the college never told him precisely what he was accused of and refused to interview witnesses he put forward.

Cases that get attention from the federal office are being handled under federal rules created during Trump’s first term. Those rules were designed to bolster the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct.

Lawyers who work with accused students see little improvement.

Justin Dillon, a Washington lawyer, said some of his recent complaints have been opened for investigation. He tells clients not to hold their breath. Even before the layoffs, cases could drag on for years, he said.

Others gave up on the office years ago. The LLF National Law Firm said it stopped filing complaints in 2021 in favor of suing schools directly. Lawyers at the firm said the office had become incapable of delivering timely outcomes, which was only worsened by the layoffs.

Complaints can be resolved several ways. They can be dismissed if they don't pass legal muster. Many go to mediation, akin to a settlement. Some end in voluntary agreements from schools, with plans to rectify past wrongs and prevent future ones.

In 2024, under Biden, the office secured 23 voluntary agreements from schools and colleges in cases involving sexual violence, according to a public database. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, there were 58. Since Trump took office again last year, there have been none.

The dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights comes as a blow to Laura Dunn, a civil rights lawyer who was influential in getting President Barack Obama's Democratic administration to make campus sexual assault a priority. As the issue gained public attention, the office started fielding hundreds of complaints a year.

“All the progress survivors have made by sharing their story is being lost,” said Dunn, who's now a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York. “We are literally losing civil rights progress in the United States, and it’s pushing us back more than 50 years.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, on Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)