Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in a frightening scene during Monday night’s game against the Bengals. The 24-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest after tackling Cincinnati receiver Tee Higgins in the first quarter, leading to the game being suspended.
However, for some time, it appeared both teams would play after the ambulance left the field. ESPN reported on the broadcast that despite the horrifying situation unfolding on the field, the league originally told players they had five minutes to warm up before the contest would start up again.
The NFL has since come out to deny those accusations.
“I’m not sure where that came from,” Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, said on a media conference call early Tuesday morning, per Pro Football Talk. “Frankly, there was no time period for the players to get warmed up. Frankly, the only thing that we asked was that [referee] Shawn [Smith] communicate with both head coaches to make sure they had the proper time inside the locker room to discuss what they felt like was best.
“So I’m not sure where that came from. Five-minute warmup never crossed my mind, personally. And I was the one . . . that was communicating with the Commissioner. We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. And that’s not a place that we should ever be in.”
Now, ESPN has released a statement further explaining its stance on what took place.
“There was constant communication in real time between ESPN and league and game officials. As a result of that, we reported what we were told in the moment and immediately updated fans as new information was learned. This was an unprecedented, rapidly-evolving circumstance. All night long, we refrained from speculation.”
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It took more than another half hour for the game to be officially suspended and even then, it has been reported that the players and coaches would not play the game for it to be officially be announced.
As of early Tuesday morning, Hamlin was sedated and listed in critical condition. He was taken to a level 1 trauma center at a nearby Cincinnati hospital.
We continue to pray for his health.
