NFL - NEWS & NOTES

ESPN removed the Bills vs Bengals game from the playoff machine but you can still select the game by applying a criteria to all games.

 

Update from the Bills is that he suffered cardiac arrest. No word yet whether the docs believe it was triggered by the way his head hit the ground (hard, from the side) on the tackle.

Additional update from one FOX reporter is that he is intubated and still listed in critical condition.

 

The good news is that the updates have said nothing about hemorrhaging of the brain (thank heaven). Concussion is likely, but it sounds like TBI (traumatic brain injury) is NOT part of the equation. (And I really should have guessed that before, as he was able to get up in a normal fashion and take a few steps before collapsing. I work with medical data, medical records and coding, but I'm not a doctor.)

We pretty much already knew he went into cardiac arrest, but now we have confirmation. Cardiac arrest involves a disruption of the nervous system.

As you put it, a strike in the wrong place could trigger it. The way he hit his head (hard side impact) was scary. The vagus nerve ganglia collect just inside the ear. The nerves that regulate heart rate and breathing feed to the brain through that point.

I'd guess the impact to the body / chest area before he hit the ground would also be a suspect. They crashed into each other pretty hard.

 

I didn't see the game / incident, so I appreciate everyone providing info and context. This is so sad, man. I hope he lives. I have a hard time believing he'll ever be okay, but hopefully this doesn't take his life for no damn good reason.

Yes, we've seen some insane stuff this year - hell, I thought Tua was all but dead on the field at one point, and he got rushed right back into playing - but wasn't it also a Bills player in the mid-2000's that almost died on the field, as well? This has been going on for a while. And when everyone gets bigger, faster, and plays that much closer to the edge to gain an advantage... it's gonna happen more.

One thing's for damn sure, my kids won't be playing football. That's always been my position, and this just reminds me why I made up my mind. Thankfully, the older one isn't exactly football material, at least at the moment. The youngest is anyone's guess, so I will be making sure to redirect him to another sport very early.

The NFL will, not long from now, be a league populated exclusively by players whose only escape from lives of poverty is trying to make it big in football. I grew up out in the Glades, in Florida - that was certainly how it was viewed, down there. It's a sad statement about both the sport and our country, but I'll leave that for another time.

It's gonna make me sick, watching the NFL go into PR mode over this. It's already started, with a couple NFL execs making sure their first statement is "we never thought about continuing to play". It's all optics, until they feel people have moved on. Gross.

 

Lots of players have been hit and hit super hard in this game. Steve mcnair suffered a broken sternum and various chest injuries over his career as an example.

Playing the game likely didn't put this player down, nor the ones that have suffered the same fate in the last year in all realms of sport.

I hope he survives

 

A story from NJ.com says ESPN got it wrong when they announced the league wanted the game resumed after a five minute warmup.

“I’ve never seen anything like it since I was playing,” NFL executive Troy Vincent, a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback during his career, said in the conference call early Tuesday morning. “Immediately, my player hat went on, like, how do you resume playing after seeing a traumatic event in front of you?”

Vincent said the league took no steps toward restarting the game and did not ask players to begin a five-minute warmup period as ESPN’s broadcasters had announced.

“It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play,” Vincent said. “That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. That’s not a place we should ever be in.”

Vincent said the Bills were returning early Tuesday morning to the team facility in Orchard Park, New York, with the exception of a few players who stayed behind with Hamlin.

 

I'm glad he spoke out to clarify that misinformation. In a time like that, it's good to be candid about what went on.

 

Man this is awful for the young man and was his family there not sure about that his football career is most likely over,your life and health is more important than some damn football what a terrible way to start the New Year

 

Damar Hamlin family spokesperson says, “He’s fighting”



Few details are available regarding the status of Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who remains sedated and in critical condition after suffering cardiac arrest on Monday night.

Jordon Rooney, a marketing representative for Bills safety Damar Hamlin and a spokesperson for the Hamlin family, appeared earlier today on ABC’s Good Morning America.


“I can’t speak specifically on his medical condition,” Rooney told Robin Roberts. “I will say that he’s fighting, he’s a fighter. . . . The family is in good spirits. We’re honestly just taking it minute by minute, hour by hour.”

We will continue to provide updates, based on official announcements from the Bills, the league, or the Hamlin family.

PFT

 

Just awful and scary.

Hope the kid pulls through.

 

Just maybe this sport is too violent. Maybe it needs to be reconsidered and possibly outlawed. No ones life should be in jeopardy to play a game. A lot of players have been paralyzed or injured to the point of serious life altering issues but when players start dying during games is it necessary anymore to play the game? I love football as much as anyone else but I can’t justify watching people possibly dying in a game. It’s really sad that sports are so much about money that lives don’t matter. With all the technology advances in our current world you would think that they could make sports safer for the players.

 

I remember that well Tim......Blues vs the Red Wings and the Puck hit him right at the Heart ....A Rocket Slap Shot.

HOFer and he has won the Gold Medal 4x for Canada.

He is now enjoying retired Life........

My Thoughts and Prayers are with Hamlin for a FULL recovery.

 

Just maybe this sport is too violent. Maybe it needs to be reconsidered and possibly outlawed.


NOPE I disagree Gidi........Football has always been a rough Sport.....just look at far the equipment has come over the years.

You can't "Outlaw" the Sport because a player has a Cardiac Attack on the Field.....let the Horse out of the barn after the fire.

Last night was not about Football......it was about Life and Death and I just Pray Hamlin will be OK.

 

I just hate talking about this in specifics when no one knows anything for sure. We've got no idea what happened to him, and there are too many possibilities for us to just guess. Hopefully it's something this positive - that would be amazing.

 

This is the latest and it doesnt say much, but its obviously still a serious situation.

 

The NFL has said it will address the issue of the unfinished Bills-Bengals game at the appropriate time. The NFL has addressed the Bills-Bengals situation, partially.

“The NFL continues to be in regular contact with the medical team caring for Damar Hamlin, and also the Bills and Bengals organizations and the NFL Players Association,” the NFL said in a statement. “After speaking with both teams and NFLPA leadership, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed the clubs today that the Bills-Bengals game will not be resumed this week.”


The league also said that it “has made no decision regarding the possible resumption of the game at a later date,” and that it “has not made any changes to the Week 18 regular season schedule.”

 

From the moment I saw it had been delayed indefinitely, I just figured they wouldn't play the game. Yes, you have the wrench that throws in things for those two teams, but the alternative is to screw things up even more than that around the rest of the league. I'm willing to bet they scrub this one entirely, as crazy as that may sound.

 

There is no way the NFL will deem the game a Bengals Win. It could be called no contest. Problem there is that the Ravens can no longer win the division. If the bills play the Patriots, the Bengals vs Bills will need t be played later in the week and the playoff schedule adjusted

 

There's so many teams involved in this games outcome. We'll all have to accept whatever the NFL does but it's going to be a tough decision with losers either way.

It goes without saying that Hamlins life is the most important concern.