The look on Josh Allen’s face is the image we will remember most from this evening. His hands were cupped over his nose and mouth, but his eyes revealed a story that was also reflected by his teammates’ reactions: they were afraid that Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s life was in danger.
The nature of Hamlin’s injury has not yet been reported, but what is clear is that it is indeed life threatening.
After making a tackle that took the brunt of the force in his chest, Hamlin stood up and then collapsed on the field. CPR was performed on him for several minutes, then he was taken to the University of Cincinnati hospital, where he’s reportedly been intubated and is listed in critical condition.
I can’t get Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs reactions out of my head, so scared for their teammate, their brother, we are all thinking of damar hamlin ❤️ 🙏 pic.twitter.com/tRU6CyGVik
— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) January 3, 2023
Credit should go to the Bills and the Bengals players, whose shared humanity shined through in the most horrific live-sports moment of all time.
Head coaches Zac Taylor and Sean McDermott also deserve commendation for putting the health of their players over the demands of the National Football League, which has hit an unthinkable new low when it comes to “player safety.”
There have been some awful takes tonight on Twitter regarding the postponement. However, the true villain is the league, which, according to the broadcast, told players they had five minutes to get ready and resume the game. The league added more insult to injury by not calling the game off until over an hour after Hamlin collapsed – well after they knew that he was not breathing on his own.
It is totally understandable we won't hear from McDermott or Taylor tonight. It would be very helpful to hear more from the NFL, though, about why players were initially told they had 5 minutes to get ready and then why it took an hour to call the game off for the night.
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) January 3, 2023
Thankfully, McDermott and Taylor told the league to sit on it, pulling their players off the field and into the locker rooms so they could get out of the public eye and deal with the situation like human beings rather than money-making machines.
For what it’s worth, NFL executive Troy Vincent denies that the league told players they had five minutes to warm up.
Via Pro Football Talk:
“I’m not sure where that came from. 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 NFL has released a press statement about postponing the game and Hamlin being in their thoughts, but their claim to care anything about player safety has never rung more hollow.
Cincinnati Bengals Fan Makes A Sign Praying For Damar Hamlin 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/VWRBHG6SUi
— NFL Daily (@SportsContent23) January 3, 2023
