The sports world was rocked by the news of Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest on the field during his team's game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.
While most everyone's thoughts were with Hamlin first and foremost, the minutes after the terrifying medical emergency brought confusion regarding whether the game would resume, and, if so, when.
Based on comments from ESPN "Monday Night Football" announcer Joe Buck, many assumed the game would in fact be back on.
On several occasions, Buck, citing "the league," mentioned that both teams were given "five minutes" to "get ready to go back to playing." However, the veteran broadcaster noted that it did not appear either team was especially close to retaking the field.
Later, during a press conference arranged by the league, NFL executive and former six-time Pro Bowler Troy Vincent refuted that the league had ever considered resuming play, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
“I’m not sure where that came from,” Vincent said. “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.”
The game was delayed for about an hour before it was finally called off.
Hamlin was injured at about 8:55 p.m. ET, and was tended to on the field for roughly 20 minutes -- including being administered CPR -- before he was carted off and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
The game seemed to be in limbo for another 40 minutes or so, until was finally suspended around 10 p.m. ET.
After Hamlin was carted off, both teams retreated to their locker rooms, and team staff and personnel were seen moving sideline equipment off the field, suggesting the game would not resume.
Once the game was officially suspended, ESPN shifted its coverage from "Monday Night Football" to its flagship news show, "SportsCenter," hosted by Scott Van Pelt.
During the show, Van Pelt suggested that the NFL had tried to resume the game but was rebuffed by the Bills, Bengals, and their head coaches.
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