“It was insensitive, lacked compassion and empathy” – NFL EVP Troy Vincent gets teary-eyed addressing handling of Damar Hamlin’s collapse 

During the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered one of the most horrendous injuries in all of sports as he collapsed on the field after making a tackle.

Hamlin needed CPR on the field and was then transported to the UC Medical Center.

Amid Hamlin leaving the field on a stretcher, both teams were told they would have five minutes to talk things over and decide whether or not they wanted to proceed with the game.

Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, spoke about the league's handling of the situation as the league issued each team five minutes to recoupe before resuming play.

Awful Announcing

@awfulannouncing

"They’ve been given five minutes to quote-unquote to get ready to go back to playing, that’s the word we get from the league." - Joe Buck

"We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play." - Troy Vincent

bit.ly/3IkwDoV

41

10

"They’ve been given five minutes to quote-unquote to get ready to go back to playing, that’s the word we get from the league." - Joe Buck

"We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play." - Troy Vincent

bit.ly/3IkwDoV

Vincent called it inappropriate and insensitive to Hamlin's situation:

"I just want to be clear: Just that suggestion alone was inappropriate, it was insensitive and frankly it lacked both empathy and compassion for Damar’s situation – who was still in the woods and fighting for his life that day," said Vincent, according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

Tom Pelissero

@TomPelissero

Troy Vincent on the 5-minute return to play issue: "I just want to be clear: Just that suggestion alone was inappropriate, it was insensitive and frankly it lacked both empathy and compassion for Damar’s situation – who was still in the woods and fighting for his life that day."

143

36

Troy Vincent on the 5-minute return to play issue: "I just want to be clear: Just that suggestion alone was inappropriate, it was insensitive and frankly it lacked both empathy and compassion for Damar’s situation – who was still in the woods and fighting for his life that day."

​

Troy Vincent reiterated that the league's focus is on Damar Hamlin in lieu of figuring out what to do with Bills-Bengals game

Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals

While the game was postponed, the NFL announced on Tuesday that it would not be played this week.

NFL executive Jeff Miller said there have been discussions about what the league is going to do with the Bills-Bengals game, with the decision to come soon, with Vincent reiterating that the focus is on Damar Hamlin.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

NFL exec Jeff Miller said discussions about what to do with the Bills-Bengals game are ongoing, he knows they have to make a decision on it "in the coming days", but NFL exec Troy Vincent explains that the league's focus has been on Damar Hamlin.

782

123

NFL exec Jeff Miller said discussions about what to do with the Bills-Bengals game are ongoing, he knows they have to make a decision on it "in the coming days", but NFL exec Troy Vincent explains that the league's focus has been on Damar Hamlin.

This weekend will conlcude the last regular season week of the 2022-2023 NFL season.

With seeding on the line and in question in the AFC, it's important for the league to come up with a solution to the missed action on Monday night.

​

If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Troy Vincent, Tom Pelissero and H/T Sportskeeda.

​