Pushing the playoffs back a week and this game being played week 19 is the most fair thing they could do. Not a simple thing but the only other realistic option is not playing it ever. It would be really tough to fit it in without getting real creative with scheduling. As for Tua he wasn't dying on the field. You can just see the difference in emotions on the players faces than when someone is taken off even in a serious Tua situation. It was tough for the Dolphins but it would have been impossible for the Bills or Bengals.
That would be the only feasable thing. But this game still effects the #1 seed. Now you have teams that effectively get a bye to watch a game that decides which team gets the Bye. The Bengals won't get a Bye (beyond only having to play 10 minutes last night). It shows how irrelevant all this is. It's all about money.
This is different.I have been watching football for 50 years and never have seen someone stop breathing on the field.Dude had a heart attack.The NFL is now lying saying they didn't tell the officials to resume game in 5 minutes to cover Thier ***. Those players especially on the Bills probally would have seen another major injury to another teammate because their minds were not on the game. Noway it should have taken an hour to make that decision.Move the season back a week or declare a tie. Who the **** cares.What happened last night was more important than some game.
Its possible the Bengals could get the bye. It could be for the division or the 2 seed as well for them depending on how their game vs Baltimore went. Not idea but some teams having an extra week off is probably more fair than handing the Chiefs the #1 seed, handing the Bengals the division, and virtually handing the Pats the #7.
isnt there typically 2 weeks between championship and super bowl? just get rid of that one week and problem solved. you are correct, if the Bills beat the Pats and Dolphins win they are in, but not looking like Bill will win now
Honestly, I am wondering if the Bills will just forfeit that game- what's the point of them even playing the Pats this Sunday? I don't know if that's actually possible, but if I were a player on that team, that's what I would want to do at this point. Settle for the #2 or 3 seed, take a few weeks off, then play in the playoffs.
Tua wasn't dying on the field.This dude stop breathing. The players were thinking even when the ambulance took him away he might die. Did u see the look on the players faces.Sobbing, Disbelief,etc. If they were forced to play another serious injury would have occured. Kudos to McDermott!
Yeah I guess they could get rid of that extra week between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl. Still having the game from last night played instead of the first week of the playoffs will cause a lot logistical issues.
We know now Tua wasn't dying,,,, but did the Dolphins players really know? You think they weren't concerned about that since they thought he was paralyzed. Bills WR was rallying the troops getting them ready to play.
They could have been concerned about him being paralyzed but they would have known they weren't doing CPR or anything like that. Diggs believed they were was a chance they would have to play. Certainly not an indication he would have wanted to.
Hamlin didn’t take “that hard” of a hit, nothing like the violent collisions we see players take all of the time. Medical consultants on the news this morning were referring to what is “(medical term) commotion”. Basically, he was hit in the chest, in a precise area, with the right amount of force during the precise cycle of his heart beat to cause his heart to stop. Basically in layman’s terms…a cardiac thump. Freak accident and the odds of it happening are so remote that it’s never been considered as a safety issue.
As for the game, as cold as it may sound, finish the game tonight! If the league administratively concludes the game, all its going to do is hurt the players. They have to get back out there and “get hit” so they realize what happened to Hamlin was a freak accident. If they don’t, those kids are going to be gun shy the next time they take the field. Using a military comparison… At Fort Bragg during airborne ops, if a soldier’s fails to open and he sadly burns in, the first thing that unit does is schedule another jump as soon as possible. You don’t want your airborne troops to be afraid to jump into combat. Same philosophy here. Can’t have your players afraid to play.
I watched hit live and i thought he was hit pretty good. if you can find slow motion he is really clobbered, he looks like a rag doll with hands going around receiver and his head has a pretty violent motion too,
I didn't think at all the game last night should have continued. But I was thinking why did the Dolphins just keep playing on that same field against Cincinnati? Yes Tua didn't die but nobody knew if he was going to wake up a vegetable after that concussion. It was something no one had ever seen. I watched the rest of that game only caring about whether Tua was ok. Imagine how the Miami players felt having to go back in and finish the game? Weird that it happened on the same field almost exactly the same spot on the field too. Both of the incidents were first evers.
Mentally there is no way they are in a position to play. Tomorrow? Maybe but even that is pushing. Tua situation is something that happens a few times a year. It got more attention than normal because of the week before and the questions surrounding it but I wouldn't consider it a first ever.
You've seen a player go unconscious with contorted fingers like the exorcist before? I never saw anyone have that happen before Tua.
I think the Tua comparison is actually a fair comparison regarding having the game finished tonight. Granted, Tua wasn’t receiving CPR on the field, but EVERYONE saw the seizure he went in to. All the Dolphins and Bengals knew was he was being transported to the hospital for treatment. Status? Unknown The Bills and Bengals know that Hamlin is at the hospital being treated. Status? Unknown. The Dolphins had to finish their game with the Bengals. The Bills should as well. It’s cold I know, but they are professionals. We in the military didn’t stop operations when a solider was severely injured or killed. We were professionals and carried on.
Tua's injury looked bad but he was still breathing on his own. The status of his life wasn't in question. Hamlin's injury was not the same, they were never able to stabilize him before getting him off of the field. He still hasn't been stabilized. He is still fighting for his life. Military comparison in this context doesn't make sense. No one else's life is in danger if they don't suit up and play again, them playing football doesn't protect anyone else. It's only a game.
I stopped reading 3/4's of the way through the 1st page of this thread. You guys do Realize this kind of thing happens periodically in hockey? A player takes a puck to the chest and they go into cardiac arrest. I've heard that it has to be at precisely the wrong moment but that could be incorrect. Regardless a quick search will turn up a number of cases including a 16 year old kid in a HS Hockey game that actually died from cardiac arrest. This appears to be the same type of thing. I've never heard of it happening to a football player before but it seems to have in this case. It has little to do with vaccinations or the NFL.
As of last night, Hamlin’s status has been listed as critical but stable. They know as much NOW as the Dolphins knew about Tua…and the Dolphins had to play. There is no reason for them not to finish the game. Tonight would have been the perfect time to do it. With the NFL dragging their feet on making a command decision, they are literally affecting other teams and their playoff chances. The military comparison is completely relevant in this context. When you are a soldier on patrol and you SEE one of your brothers in arms step on an IED and has his body blown to bits, it affects you emotionally…it affects you mentally but you don’t have the luxury to let it affect you physically. You HAVE to carry on, regardless of how you feel. That’s being a PROFESSIONAL. These NFL players are no different in that regard. They are professionals…being paid ASTRONOMICALLY PROFESSIONAL salaries. As I said, I know it’s cold but just because you’re a millionaire for playing a game doesn’t make your emotional pain more relevant than regular people who have no choice but to carry on.
ridiculous. There's far more important things going on at that moment, the first one being the health and safety of the young man who's heart stopped and wasn't breathing. That's priority #1. Getting him stabilized, getting him off to the hospital, then co-ordinating with all stake holders involved. Teams, owners, coaches, commissioner and everyone else involved. The last thing on their minds at that moment is giving you, or any other fan an answer on the game. All accounts and reports today show exactly that, the leagues priority was the safety and health of the player. They left the decision up to the teams, the teams had no interest in playing and that's what was done. That was the last decision to be made, the first was the series of far more important decisions regarding the young mans life. Get a grip man, seriously. There never was any intent to continue that game, Vincent and the NFLPA said as much themsleves today. The least of their worries is TV, announcers, fans, everything else. All of that is completely irrelevant until they know the player's condition, and is well taken care of. So you were inconvenienced for over an hour... So were TV people... big deal. Get over it. Nobody owes you anything, especially in a situation like this. Far more important things. You're way off base here. What they did last night was standard operating procedure in the event of a crisis. They're more concerned about a players health and safety, you're more concerned about the optics on tv, or something.... Whatever man, you're way off base. No decisions are made until they have the most important issue under control. Heck, I watched an F1 race a couple years ago where Romain Grosjean went through a metal baricade, car burst into flames. Most thought he was dead or decapitated, or burning to death. That race sat idle for almost 2 hours before a decision was made to either proceed, or call it off. Once they knew he was safe by a miracle they decided to carry on with the race. You would have lost your mind there I guess right? This is pointless. Your position already says all that needs to be said and tells me I'm wasting my time being reasonable.
And this wasn't about optics on TV. Once it got to the point where they had to do CPR on a player in the middle of the game, the game should've been cancelled right there and then. As far as the other players on the field were concerned, they probably saw a fellow player almost die that night. No one with any ounce of decency would be in the proper headspace from seeing that. Is that really so hard to understand?
As far as I know he was listed as being in critical condition. I havent read anywhere that he was desceibed as being critical but stable. Tua did not have his heart stop beating and have to be revived with a defibrulator and entubated so he could breath on the field. Not comparable situations at all dude.
What you are describing is a professional soldier on a battlefield and then comparing it to an athlete in a controlled environment who's profession is to entertain us. Do you really think it is the same thing? You think these players are out there trying to kill each other? What they are being paid is from the league(a private entity), not the government so why is that a concern?
He's been on a ventilator and sedated since the accident, which is life support. They're going to try to take him off it, and we won't know the extent of injury to his brain, etc. until they do. That's why the news hasn't reported anything....there's nothing to report when he's being kept alive. My heart breaks for his family and what they must be going through. I had a niece in this situation about 8 years ago and the story didn't end well. I almost hate to share this, but if breathing stops for 3 minutes, the chances of normal brain activity after being revived are minimal. Hopefully this is a different scenario since he got medical attention quickly...but every second counts and they had to start his heart first. Hopefully everyone realizes- this wasn't an injury on the field. He was dead and they brought him back.
I did read somewhere that he was “critical but stable” yesterday, but can’t remember where I read it. His uncle told ESPN that he had to be resuscitated a second time after arriving at the hospital, which doesn’t sound good. On a positive note, the uncle did say his oxygen levels are improving, so hopefully that’s a sign of recovery.
how do you know? reports are he was vaccinated. A hockey puck and a baseball are quite different in the trauma they would cause.
Sorry to hear about your niece that is terrible! I was thinking the same thing about the breathing and hopefully that will not be the case.
Bart Scott has to be one of the dumbest people alive. He commented that Tee Higgins is partly to blame for the incident with Damar Hamlin. Rightly so, he was slammed by others, including Micah Parsons: https://www.foxnews.com/sports/cowb...cott-suggests-blame-damar-hamlin-incident.amp Scott is a complete idiot.
