“It’s still something that you see and takes a toll on you mentally because it’s hard to get that type of stuff off your mind because you know a city that’s basically your second home,” Williams said. “For me, I’m not from there but spend a lot of time there, seeing it underwater like that, it does kinda hit home.”

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Williams, a Longview, Tex., native who lives just outside of Houston for nearly four months during the offseason, said much of his family in the area left Longview before Harvey made landfall on Friday night as a Category 4 storm off the Texas gulf coast. The city recorded 16.07 inches of rain on Sunday, shattering the daily record of 8.32 inches set in 1945, with up to an additional 20 inches of rain projected this week.

“It’s sad, man,” Williams said. “Even though seeing how bad it can get, when you see pictures and see places that you commute through on a daily basis and see water to the stoplights, that’s when it kinda gets eye-opening.”

Williams said he had a few phone calls to make on the drive home from the stadium Sunday night after absorbing images of familiar streets and freeways transformed into lakes and rivers. He wasn’t worried about his house suffering flood damage, but Williams isn’t sure about his gym, O Athletik. That building sits near a portion of the Buffalo Bayou, which has suffered severe flooding.

After the game, Williams said he talked to two Bengals players who worked out at O Athletik — running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Brandon LaFell, who grew up in Houston — about the heartbreaking situation in the city.

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“We don’t really know how it’s gonna look out there,” Williams said. “Obviously, when it’s under that amount of water, things change. Buildings gotta get renovated. You’ve seen it with New Orleans [following Hurricane Katrina], it goes through a pretty drastic change. And that could take some time.”

Mbu, who was born in Silver Spring but grew up in Houston, said the flooding was on his mind before the game as he tried to compartmentalize his thoughts. He said he ran into the locker room during halftime and after the game to make sure his mother, family and friends were okay. His mother was safe, Mbu said, but some of his friends in Southeast Houston had to evacuate. Mbu’s brother has been stuck in North Carolina after participating in a flag football tournament. Both George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport have been shut down until further notice.

“Thank God I’m not in a situation where my mom is hurt or anything, but I know a few people that are going through it right now,” said Mbu, who also expressed a desire to “effectively help” those affected by the hurricane. “It’s kinda hard to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a game right now. I’ve got to forget about it.’ I wasn’t jumping up and down, dancing and everything today during the game like I usually do, but I tried to make the best of it.”

Hopkins, who played at Clear Lake High in Houston, received comforting news Sunday morning that his parents, grandparents and friends were fine. But he said knowing that other families in Houston aren’t safe, dealing with possibly up to 50 inches of rain in a week, put the game in perspective.

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“Not that this game is not important, not that every game isn’t important, but at the same time when you look at people losing lives, losing their homes, it helps me realize that there are bigger things than making or missing a field goal,” Hopkins said.

While the focus has been on Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast, parts of Louisiana could receive up to 25 inches of rain this week. Safety Deshazor Everett, a native of Lake Charles, received a call from his mother nearly two hours before the game, informing him that while everyone was safe, a tree in her backyard fell and knocked out the power.

“‘Well, mom, I’m getting ready for a game,’” Everett responded. “It’s not really too bad on my end, just the weather, but prayers for everybody in Houston with the flooding. I’ve got a lot of friends in Houston and got family in Houston. It’s something that’s hard to watch, but as a player, you’re told as a professional to leave off-the-field issues off the field. I come in here focused on what I gotta do. Now, we’re done with that and got the win, I can call everybody and check on everybody and deal with it how I deal with it.”

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