Damar Hamlin in Critical Condition After Collapsing During NFL Game

There was no discussion of resuming play, he said, which contradicted comments by Joe Buck, ESPN’s play-by-play broadcaster, on the air. Buck said just before players returned to the locker rooms that they were told they would have about five minutes to get ready to resume play. “That’s the word we get from the league and the word we get from down on the field, but nobody’s moving,” Buck said.

“It wasn’t about proceeding with the game,” Vincent told reporters on a conference call early Tuesday. “The competitive aspect never crossed my mind, never crossed our minds.”

Bills players and staff planned to fly back to Buffalo Monday night, a league spokesman said. Vincent and other league officials said they did not yet have plans for resuming the game, which was stopped with the Bengals leading, 7-3.

The N.F.L. Players Association said in a statement that it had been in touch with players from both teams and with the N.F.L. “The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being,” the statement said.

Hamlin, a second-year player drafted out of Pittsburgh, had been in the starting lineup since September because of injuries in the Buffalo secondary. Within hours of his hospitalization, a toy drive led by Hamlin’s charitable foundation had received more than $3 million via a crowdfunding website.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/sports/football/damar-hamlin-bills-hit.html