Damar Hamlin is headed home to Buffalo!

soxhop411

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View: https://twitter.com/JaySkurski/status/1610142074913030147
Conference call starting now. Jeff Miller starts by saying there will be no update on Damar Hamlin’s medical condition tonight, nor any update on when or if the game will be resumed.
Emergency Action Plan was put in place by NFL. EAP went into effect. Troy Vincent says he clearly saw all players were "traumatized".
View: https://twitter.com/Trags/status/1610142438831579136
View: https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1610143237918060545

NFL executive Troy Vincent on a call says while he was in constant communication with those involved, "Neither coach was talking about resuming play, the players weren't. ... It was really about Damar. ... How do you resume play after you've seen such a traumatic event?"
Jeff Miller: "There is an emergency action plan in every stadium that's rehearsed every year... We do have an ambulance at every stadium, an airway management physician. Those medical staffs collaborate."
View: https://twitter.com/LATimesfarmer/status/1610143911254855680
NFL conference call starting now. NFL EVP Troy Vincent: "Frankly, the competitive aspect never crossed my mind, never crossed our minds internally."
https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1610142672647344131
 
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mauf

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YTF

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SVP really killing the NFL for being seemingly willing to resume the game. I haven’t watched sports center in forever, but I wasn’t expecting this level of… autonomy?
Just my 2 cents on this....I think the NFL screwed up royally with the mention that the teams would take 5 minutes to gather themselves. I think 5 minutes was an arbitrary number (or perhaps SOP in less severe instances) tossed out until they could figure out exactly what they were going to do. Announcing a temporary suspension of play so that the league could confer with both teams would have served them so much better. I don't think (at least I hope) that there was any intent to continue this game without consulting those who witnessed the worst on field event of their lives.
 

nattysez

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Thanks again for all the MDs weighing in here.

Just my 2 cents on this....I think the NFL screwed up royally with the mention that the teams would take 5 minutes to gather themselves. I think 5 minutes was an arbitrary number (or perhaps SOP in less severe instances) tossed out until they could figure out exactly what they were going to do. Announcing a temporary suspension of play so that the league could confer with both teams would have served them so much better. I don't think (at least I hope) that there was any intent to continue this game without consulting those who witnessed the worst on field event of their lives.
Keep in mind that any announcement that the game wasn't resuming before they'd located Hamlin's mom and gotten her to the ambulance and gotten the ambulance out of the stadium could've been a disaster with all the fans clogging the exits and the surrounding roads. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but there might be a protocol they follow to maximize the chances of the league and medical personnel being able to effectively deal with the emergency before they say anything to the fans.
 

mauf

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SVP was heavily implying the coaches had to intervene to stop play resuming.
I’m not sure if he has any nonpublic information, but that was certainly what it looked like from the live broadcast — Taylor and two officials walked across the field, conferred with McDermott (and a couple more officials), and then both coaches waved their players toward the locker rooms.

Maybe the league office or someone else would have intervened if the coaches (and particularly Taylor) hadn’t taken command of the situation, but it certainly appeared that the on-field officials were following some standard playbook that called for a resumption of play after a 5-minute warm-up period.
 

YTF

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Thanks again for all the MDs weighing in here.



Keep in mind that any announcement that the game wasn't resuming before they'd located Hamlin's mom and gotten her to the ambulance and gotten the ambulance out of the stadium could've been a disaster with all the fans clogging the exits and the surrounding roads. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but there might be a protocol they follow to maximize the chances of the league and medical personnel being able to effectively deal with the emergency before they say anything to the fans.
Agreed, that's why I opted for the phrase "temporary suspension of play".
 

Ed Hillel

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I don’t think what Skip said was that bad. Obviously the player is the concern, but this also creates a real issue for finishing this season. I think he’s basically saying what now?
 

brandonchristensen

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I don’t think what Skip said was that bad. Obviously the player is the concern, but this also creates a real issue for finishing this season. I think he’s basically saying what now?
Yeah it’s one of those complications that people will be stressing over all week. But at that particular moment, didn’t need to be said.

The point wasn’t wrong - the timing was.
 

singaporesoxfan

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I don’t think what Skip said was that bad. Obviously the player is the concern, but this also creates a real issue for finishing this season. I think he’s basically saying what now?
Agree, his point seems to be that logistics seem so irrelevant when the health status of Hamlin is up in the air
 

Marciano490

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I don’t think what Skip said was that bad. Obviously the player is the concern, but this also creates a real issue for finishing this season. I think he’s basically saying what now?
It was mostly clumsy phrasing and the fact that it didn’t really need to be said so why put it out there if not to just have an opinion and clout chase, but all in all fuck Skip Bayless and he gets no benefits of no doubts
 

YTF

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I’m not sure if he has any nonpublic information, but that was certainly what it looked like from the live broadcast — Taylor and two officials walked across the field, conferred with McDermott (and a couple more officials), and then both coaches waved their players toward the locker rooms.

Maybe the league office or someone else would have intervened if the coaches (and particularly Taylor) hadn’t taken command of the situation, but it certainly appeared that the on-field officials were following some standard playbook that called for a resumption of play after a 5-minute warm-up period.
It's also possible that the officials were conveying a message from the league to the coaches. Better to get the guys off the field and let them deal with this without the eyes of the country on them.
 

Ed Hillel

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I actually like Skip. He plays up a character on TV and social media, but he does his time, puts in the research, is passionate about sports, and is respectful to his colleagues. Same for Shannon, who has gone from an unwatchable clown on CBS to a quality commentator. A lot of people get worked up about their characters, but that just means they’re great at their jobs imo.
 

Ale Xander

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Kudos to Lisa, Ryan, Booger, Suzy, Troy, Joe, SVP for doing a great compassionate job. But most of all, kudos to Zac Taylor and the Bengals captains for showing what true leadership is. Seeing White, Diggs and most of all
Allen that emotional was sobering, also.
Thanks to Fiskful, Mr Shums, and radsoxfan for their expertise.

Didnt see it live, DvR’ed it and didn’t think Andy thing of it when I saw DVR stop at around90 minutes, maybe a technical issue.
Completely shocked. Never seen anything like this.

Prayers to Damar and his family.
 

riboflav

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SVP really killing the NFL for being seemingly willing to resume the game. I haven’t watched sports center in forever, but I wasn’t expecting this level of… autonomy?
Fwiw, I only watch SVP on espn and ignore the rest. Met him several times in west Hartford back in the mid 2000s when my wife was at uconn law school there and he and his mom would often be out for ice cream or a quick dinner at the Friendly’s. Always had a good chat. An amazing person given he could be conceited if he wanted to but he never did. Great guy and not surprised tonight by how he handled this at all.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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This situation was an easy investment for the NFL to make to buy some goodwill, and it failed miserably. The league already has a reputation for putting entertainment and profit above player health, and as soon as it was clear how bad this injury was and how traumatized the players were, the league should have announced the game was being postponed and that fans would be reimbursed.
 

Marciano490

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This situation was an easy investment for the NFL to make to buy some goodwill, and it failed miserably. The league already has a reputation for putting entertainment and profit above player health, and as soon as it was clear how bad this injury was and how traumatized the players were, the league should have announced the game was being postponed and that fans would be reimbursed.
What odds would you lay on ratings going up or down next week?
 

joe dokes

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Troy Vincent actually said this?:

We asked that [referee] Shawn [Smith] communicate with both Taylor and Coach McDermott getting the players together. Frankly, it was just about getting a pulse of where they were at that particular time."
 

mauf

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Here’s the recap from the Cincinnati Enquirer. Only thing that was news to me was Troy Vincent asserting there was never a plan to warm up and restart the game; he blamed ESPN for the misunderstanding. It certainly looked like the players had been asked to prepare to resume play, so I suspect we’re being gaslit here, or at least Vincent is trying to deflect heat from on-field officials to the media.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2023/01/03/damar-hamlin-suffers-serious-injury-during-buffalo-cincinnati-game/69771881007/
 

richgedman'sghost

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Just my 2 cents on this....I think the NFL screwed up royally with the mention that the teams would take 5 minutes to gather themselves. I think 5 minutes was an arbitrary number (or perhaps SOP in less severe instances) tossed out until they could figure out exactly what they were going to do. Announcing a temporary suspension of play so that the league could confer with both teams would have served them so much better. I don't think (at least I hope) that there was any intent to continue this game without consulting those who witnessed the worst on field event of their lives.
I'm all for criticizing the NFL but I'll give them a bit of a break here. I think the 5 minute thing is SOP. It was SVP who said that the NFL was considering restarting the game. It should be noted that Van Pelt was reporting from. Washington and not the stadium. Someone might have read the NFL handbook and just started that rumor based on what the standard operating procedure is to restart play following an injury without consulting the NFL.
The other factor to consider is that the NFL has not had to deal with a life or death situation of a player in 50 years since the Chuck Hughes tragedy in 1970
 

Traut

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Here’s the recap from the Cincinnati Enquirer. Only thing that was news to me was Troy Vincent asserting there was never a plan to warm up and restart the game; he blamed ESPN for the misunderstanding. It certainly looked like the players had been asked to prepare to resume play, so I suspect we’re being gaslit here, or at least Vincent is trying to deflect heat from on-field officials to the media.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2023/01/03/damar-hamlin-suffers-serious-injury-during-buffalo-cincinnati-game/69771881007/
This was an unusual situation where something happened that had never happened before.

In the moment, any moment, in real time it’s confusing. People at home on TV may have better information than those on the field. Initial reporting on things is almost always wrong.

There are a billion reasons to rip the NFL as a trash league and I’m not sure this is one of them. They got this right and awfully fast.
 

dynomite

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One of the worst things I’ve ever seen as a sports fan, desperately hoping for good news from the hospital.

I will say there has been a lot of humanity on display, from the players and coaches, to the former players on ESPN (and SVP) who met the moment and explained how they were processing this, to most people who reacted with overwhelming respect and empathy (donating to the toy drive, etc.). Maybe that’s a low bar, but in this era I don’t take anything for granted.

Edit:

More info in this update from Schefter just now on postponement since people have been discussing:

After Hamlin exited the field, Bills players knelt together in a circle and then returned to the sideline, with the defense heading back on the field to resume play. Buffalo wide receiver Stefon Diggs called everyone over for a word. However, instead of resuming play, Bengals coach Zac Taylor walked over to Bills counterpart Sean McDermott and met with the game officials present. The decision was then made to temporarily pause the game, which the Bengals were leading 7-3, before the league ultimately chose to postpone it.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35368372/damar-hamlin-collapses-field-bills-bengals-temporarily-suspended
 
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JimD

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Was just texting wirth my teenage Grandson who's really pissed right now. He is a big NFL fan and was watching the game. He's quite upset after seeing this. Now he's pissed because he was browsing Instagram posts and there's a handful of idiots trying to blame this on Damar Hamlin being vaccinated. He doesn't understand why people always have to drag their politics into these situations. I told him those trolls are everywhere and are ready to inject their ignorance into any situation. Ignore them.
Your grandson clearly has a good head on his shoulders at 17.
 

PedroKsBambino

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Here’s the recap from the Cincinnati Enquirer. Only thing that was news to me was Troy Vincent asserting there was never a plan to warm up and restart the game; he blamed ESPN for the misunderstanding. It certainly looked like the players had been asked to prepare to resume play, so I suspect we’re being gaslit here, or at least Vincent is trying to deflect heat from on-field officials to the media.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2023/01/03/damar-hamlin-suffers-serious-injury-during-buffalo-cincinnati-game/69771881007/
We all learned long ago not to believe a word Troy Vincent says. If he tells the truth it is purely for convenience.

As always, follow the evidence….
 

NortheasternPJ

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QFT. He gets NO benefit of the doubt from me.
Of course he blames ESPN. You could literally see it playing out on TV with the officials and players. I'm sure ESPN didn't call the officials and players telling them to get the gladiators back into the arena. I stand by my stance from last night, the NFL once again looks out of touch and a bunch of liars.
 

AlNipper49

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We decided to give a little leeway last night, but unfortunately, we have some members who were attempting to politicize this horrible incident last night. The grace period has ended. This is not up for discussion.
 

cornwalls@6

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Of course he blames ESPN. You could literally see it playing out on TV with the officials and players. I'm sure ESPN didn't call the officials and players telling them to get the gladiators back into the arena. I stand by my stance from last night, the NFL once again looks out of touch and a bunch of liars.
You could literally see video of people talking. We still have no clue what was being said, by whom, to whom. Neither did SVP, by his own admission. Using this terrifying situation as yet another reason to rail against the league(who I also have major, separate issues with), for whatever reasons, is what seems tone deaf to me. The game situation was resolved, correctly, in about an hour. Given the unprecedented nature, and uncertainty of what was happening, that is not the outrage that you and others are trying to frame it as.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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We decided to give a little leeway last night, but unfortunately, we have some members who were attempting to politicize this horrible incident last night. The grace period has ended. This is not up for discussion.
Yes! For once it wasn't me!
 

joe dokes

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It’s a common phrase and unfortunate that his brain used it there. Give the guy a break. I’m sure he definitely meant it to be incredibly offensive. Yeesh.
I wasn't implying anything about intent.
 

8slim

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I wasn't implying anything about intent.
Fine. It’s OK to let it go then.

*edit* forgive me if I came off as abrasive. I’m just so exhausted by the “gamification” of language. The whole subculture of racing to call out even the most innocuous of misstatements bothers me to no end, and has harmed discourse IMHO. I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way.
 

kfoss99

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With this incident it puts into focus how insane it is that auto races have always continued after driver deaths.
 

SoxJox

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it was possibly a case of commotio .
Just watching the news this morning and they had a leading cardiologist on who echoed this opinion. But he went further and said heart restart isn't the end game. He said a critical concern is potential neurological injury if the brain does not receive sufficient blood flow / oxygen. An additional step to help avert this is to induce a coma and concurrently lower the body's core temperature (I didn't hear him if he mentioned what that temperature is). Then he said there is a significant degree of discretion on when to return the body to normal temp and bring the patient out of the coma.