Team official blasts NFL exec VP over mismanagement of Damar Hamlin situation
Damar Hamlin collapsed in the first quarter of the Week 17 matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. Bills' safety was given medical attention on the field, including being administered CPR on the field.
An ambulance later came onto the field at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, taking Hamlin to the nearby University of Cincinnati Medical center.
Players were told they would have five minutes to warm up again after Hamlin's incident. A team official blamed NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, who was at the league's command center at the time.
The official said:
"The league screws this s--- up because Troy Vincent screws this stuff up," said official. "That's the wrong person in the wrong position at the absolute wrong time ... He wants to be the hero, but he will never take accountability. That's him to a T."
Vincent rejected the notion that he made the call for players to warm up again. He spoke on a conference call hours following the Bills - Bengals game being suspended.
Troy Vincent said:
"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."
Although NFL officials maintained that they never wanted to restart the game, the stories of coaches, players, union officials, and team executives say otherwise. Stopping the game was the choice of those on the field that Monday night.
The official said:
"The league did not cancel the game. The Bills and the Bengals canceled the game."
Bills head coach Sean McDermott and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor took their respective teams into the locker room after the Damar Hamlin incident.
Roger Goodell on suspending the game following the Damar Hamlin incident
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, in a memo to all 32 teams, acknowledged that he had made the call to end the game.
In part, Goodell said:
"After speaking with both teams and NFLPA leadership, I decided to postpone last night's game and have our focus remain on Damar and his family."
Memo that commissioner Roger Goodell sent today to all NFL teams: https://t.co/UDPaPS2ulQ
The NFL commissioner further addressed the Damar Hamlin situation for the first time with Boston's The Sports Hub. Goodell noted that the decision to delay the game came 'with a lot of discussions.'
Goodell added:
"A standard practice would be to resume play, but when you get feedback that it may not be appropriate, that's when Troy made the decision to suspend play.
"Which was the right decision, and allow everyone to go back and let's gather ourselves and get more information, which was clear we needed to do. So, and then I made the decision to postpone shortly thereafter."
That final decision might have belonged to Goodell, but the first instinct not to play came on the field in Cincinnati. We'll see if Troy Vincent and the NFL get any more backlash for their handling of the Damar Hamlin situation.
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