NFL Exec Zealously Denies League Planned To Have Players Warm Up And Continue Playing After Damar Hamlin Injury
Safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during last night's Monday Night Football game at approximately 8:55 p.m. ET. After receiving CPR on the field, he was transported by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center roughly 16 minutes after he collapsed. At that point, viewers watching the broadcast at home were informed by play-by-play announcer Joe Buck that the play would be resuming in five minutes.
However, a few hours later, NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent held a conference call with reporters. He denied any claims that the league office attempted to restart the game after the scary scene.
Vincent explained the process that resulted in the decision to postpone the game. He said that the overriding priority was the well-being of Damar Hamlin, the players from both teams, and their staffs.
«Frankly, the competitive aspect never crossed my mind, never crossed our mind internally,» Vincent said, adding that the goal was to get a «pulse» on how the players and coaches were dealing with the situation.
According to the conference call, Vincent claims that both he and Roger Goodell agreed it would be impossible to resume playing after the players had just witnessed such a traumatic event.
