MNF: Bills vs. Bengals *game suspended* - prayers for Damar Hamlin

[hepcat]

6 hours ago, Cullenator said:

I expect we will see some changes in policy come out of last night.  Whether they are substantive or performative, only time will tell.

 

But I would very much hope this reminder of how fragile our existence is will stick with this community and tone down some of the poo that get thrown at these players.  All the "he is trash", "Ill trade him for a ham sandwich", "dude is garbage", etc.  These guys are people with families and loved ones and we (myself included) sometimes forget that when we plop down in out Lazy-boys with a beer and a brat to watch on Sundays.

I agree in principal but some of these guys also make more money in one game than I make in years if not my entire life. Criticism is part of their profession. I get not using hyperbole but these pro athletes sign up for it as well. 

[mav1234]

5 minutes ago, PantherFanInPhilly said:

The quote I read is Vincent said he didn't know where the "5 min" thing came from and nothing like that ever crossed his mind to say in the first place. 

that does not contradict reports that the officials on the field tried to get the warmup time started and coaches quickly dismissed the idea and took players into the lockerroom, which is also my take-away from what I'd read. (would pie but out of it, too many good posts today)

[Sgt Schultz]

Just now, mav1234 said:

that does not contradict reports that the officials on the field tried to get the warmup time started and coaches quickly dismissed the idea and took players into the lockerroom, which is also my take-away from what I'd read. (would pie but out of it, too many good posts today)

The officials on the field are probably desperate for some sort of direction from the league at that point.  There apparently wasn't any for a while and the eventual direction may have come from the realization that nobody was going back on the field, regardless.

I was thinking about the delay in making the official decision, and the one rationale I can understand (other than it being complete chaos and the league leadership is just not very strong) is concern about telling 65,000 people to go home over two hours before anybody expected 65,000 people to go home in mass.  It would be prudent to ask the stadium officials whether the support is in place to handle that, like traffic cops to control the flow of cars, security to make sure everybody stays safe, etc.  Were they there, or nearby, or would they have to be called in early?

That said, one would think if that was the reason, somebody would have told the on-field officials and teams that the game was cancelled but it was not going to be announced publicly until they were sure the resources were in place to handle the bedlam.  I did not get a whiff that was the flow of the decision, rather the decision flowed from the coaches to the game officials and up to the league.

Who knows?

Right now, we are all just hoping for encouraging news on Halmin's condition and what his quality of life will be.  The ashes can be swept up later.  Burning Goodell in effigy can wait until Friday.  It is always a good TGIF activity, anyway.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

21 minutes ago, PantherFanInPhilly said:

Joe Buck is pushing back in his interview w/ the NY Post saying that the NFL DID tell him the 5 min warm up thing...NFL denies it.  Hmmm

Only one side has strong incentive to lie here. Hell, Joe Buck probably has strong incentive to cover for the NFL. The NFL could definitely pressure their media partners to replace him on the commentary team.

[PantherFanInPhilly]

So I haven't been able to read and keep up with his status throughout the day. Has there been ANY positive news so far? 

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, PantherFanInPhilly said:

So I haven't been able to read and keep up with his status throughout the day. Has there been ANY positive news so far? 

He's still alive. Considering the circumstances on the field last night that has to be considered a positive in and of itself.

[glenwo2]

7 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Only one side has strong incentive to lie here. Hell, Joe Buck probably has strong incentive to cover for the NFL. The NFL could definitely pressure their media partners to replace him on the commentary team.

If they replace Joe after this, then they would basically all but confirm Joe's claims. 

[PantherFanInPhilly]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He's still alive. Considering the circumstances on the field last night that has to be considered a positive in and of itself.

Yeah, of course. To be honest, I (like many others I'm sure) assumed he was dead once I saw all the players reactions and heard them mention the CPR etc. Ugh. What a crazy night. Was up until 12:30 reading about it...kept thinking about it throughout the night when I would toss and turn and then first thing I did when waking up was go to Twitter hoping for good news. 

[Cullenator]

28 minutes ago, Sgt Schultz said:

The officials on the field are probably desperate for some sort of direction from the league at that point.  There apparently wasn't any for a while and the eventual direction may have come from the realization that nobody was going back on the field, regardless.

I was thinking about the delay in making the official decision, and the one rationale I can understand (other than it being complete chaos and the league leadership is just not very strong) is concern about telling 65,000 people to go home over two hours before anybody expected 65,000 people to go home in mass.  It would be prudent to ask the stadium officials whether the support is in place to handle that, like traffic cops to control the flow of cars, security to make sure everybody stays safe, etc.  Were they there, or nearby, or would they have to be called in early?

That said, one would think if that was the reason, somebody would have told the on-field officials and teams that the game was cancelled but it was not going to be announced publicly until they were sure the resources were in place to handle the bedlam.  I did not get a whiff that was the flow of the decision, rather the decision flowed from the coaches to the game officials and up to the league.

Who knows?

Right now, we are all just hoping for encouraging news on Halmin's condition and what his quality of life will be.  The ashes can be swept up later.  Burning Goodell in effigy can wait until Friday.  It is always a good TGIF activity, anyway.

 

This a too level headed for the Huddle mob. 

Solid points and stuff I hadnt considered yet.

[mav1234]

29 minutes ago, Sgt Schultz said:

The officials on the field are probably desperate for some sort of direction from the league at that point.  There apparently wasn't any for a while and the eventual direction may have come from the realization that nobody was going back on the field, regardless.

I was thinking about the delay in making the official decision, and the one rationale I can understand (other than it being complete chaos and the league leadership is just not very strong) is concern about telling 65,000 people to go home over two hours before anybody expected 65,000 people to go home in mass.  It would be prudent to ask the stadium officials whether the support is in place to handle that, like traffic cops to control the flow of cars, security to make sure everybody stays safe, etc.  Were they there, or nearby, or would they have to be called in early?

That said, one would think if that was the reason, somebody would have told the on-field officials and teams that the game was cancelled but it was not going to be announced publicly until they were sure the resources were in place to handle the bedlam.  I did not get a whiff that was the flow of the decision, rather the decision flowed from the coaches to the game officials and up to the league.

Who knows?

Right now, we are all just hoping for encouraging news on Halmin's condition and what his quality of life will be.  The ashes can be swept up later.  Burning Goodell in effigy can wait until Friday.  It is always a good TGIF activity, anyway.

 

This is why it might take a few minutes to filter decisions out ,but it took 30 minutes. Stadiums, I guarantee, have orderly 'evacuation' and exit plans in place.  This was not that. I appreciate trying to give the NFL the benefit of the doubt, but IF their slow official response is justified it is more that they did not want to interrupt the teams to confirm they wanted to postpone indefinitely in their lockerrooms while they were having personal discussions on what happened.  But I think the coaches told the officials the players weren't going back out on the field and at that point the NFL could have made the call.

[ladypanther]

4 hours ago, PantherFanInPhilly said:

Yeah, of course. To be honest, I (like many others I'm sure) assumed he was dead once I saw all the players reactions and heard them mention the CPR etc. Ugh. What a crazy night. Was up until 12:30 reading about it...kept thinking about it throughout the night when I would toss and turn and then first thing I did when waking up was go to Twitter hoping for good news. 

It was very upsetting to watch. Hearing about the CPR which was going on for a while and seeing the players reactions was terrible.  I was just going to watch the game for a few minutes  and then go to bed.  Like you I could not turn it off.

Edited January 4, 2023 by ladypanther

[Paa Langfart]

41 minutes ago, PantherFanInPhilly said:

So I haven't been able to read and keep up with his status throughout the day. Has there been ANY positive news so far? 

I thought intubated folks had to be put in a coma and kept in that state?  Its not like the guy even if improving is going to sit up in bed or anything as long as he is intubated.

[Sgt Schultz]

1 minute ago, mav1234 said:

This is why it might take a few minutes to filter decisions out ,but it took 30 minutes. Stadiums, I guarantee, have orderly 'evacuation' and exit plans in place.  This was not that. I appreciate trying to give the NFL the benefit of the doubt, but IF their slow official response is justified it is more that they did not want to interrupt the teams to confirm they wanted to postpone indefinitely in their lockerrooms while they were having personal discussions on what happened.  But I think the coaches told the officials the players weren't going back out on the field and at that point the NFL could have made the call.

Yeah, I'm not trying to give them the benefit of the doubt on using that logic, just saying that would be the one reason I could understand.  Truth is, if that had been the reason, we would have heard that from the league already.  It would be a perfectly valid explanation, to announce that the decision to cancel the game was made moments after the incident after conferring with the game officials who had talked to the coaches, but they first had to ensure the safety of a stadium full of fans.  People would get that.  It even implies somebody is actually keeping their wits about them in a crisis.

My guess?  The league office just froze.  It was a crisis that required leadership, and unfortunately there is little to be found in the league offices these days.  I think the coaches drove the decision.  I don't even think the league was scheming how to continue the game, they just froze. If they told the game officials to get the teams warming up, that was most likely by rote.

I think we have all seen that sort of leadership before, people that can't go off script.  What am I saying...that describes our former HC up until three months ago.

Every piece of information they needed to make the decision (other than whether the stadium could orderly get everybody out and on their way home if they announced the game is canceled) they could get from the game officials.  They were there, they sense the emotions of the players and most likely shared them, they've talked to the coaches, and they probably had the exact same feeling of dread everybody else had.  With seven of them, the odds are pretty good one of them is better at PR than the league office, too.

Hell, all they had to do was turn on the telecast and hear nearly dead silence in a stadium still full of 65,000 fans who had been amped up for that game just ten minutes earlier. 

To borrow a quote attributed to Churchill, the NFL "can always be counted on to do the right thing, after having exhausted all other possibilities."

[1of10Charnatives]

2 hours ago, mav1234 said:

I'd need to read it again but on first read what I saw from Vincent wasn't so much that there was never a discussion of a 5 minute warmup before resumption, but rather the NFL hadn't tried to force that.

Troy Vincent and Roger Goodell could announce publicly that the league had help private discussions and decided that puppies are indeed cute and bacon tastes good and without an independant 3rd party witness unaffiliated with the league or it's corporate partners, I wouldn't assume it was true.

That's how little credibility I think they have.