Cincinnati, Ohio — The NFL postponed Monday’s Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals football game after safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest following a violent hit in the first quarter at Paycor Stadium.
Roughly two hours after calling off the game at 10:01 p.m., the NFL said it hadn’t even begun to consider rescheduling the game. Shortly after midnight Monday, there were no plans to re-play or resume the game and the league wasn’t in a hurry to figure out details or implications.
“There’s nothing in consideration right now,” Jeff Miller, the league’s executive vice president of communications, said on a conference media call. “Our concern is for the player and his well-being. At the appropriate time, I’m sure that we’ll have a conversation around the next steps regarding the game.”
Most of the Bills organization flew back to Buffalo after midnight on Tuesday, but NFL EVP of football operations Troy Vincent said some of the players asked to remain in Cincinnati to be close to Hamlin.
The Bills landed in Buffalo at 2:50 a.m., according to Sal Capaccio from WGR 550 Sports Radio.
Hamlin received medical attention on the field for about 15 minutes before he was secured on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
“His heartbeat was restored on the field and he was transferred to the UC Medical Center for further testing and treatment,” the Bills said in a statement early Tuesday morning. “He is currently sedated and listed in critical condition.”
Vincent said coaches and medical staff receive an “emergency action play” every week 90 minutes before every NFL game.
“The emergency action plan went into effect,” Vincent said in reference to the Hamlin injury. “Obviously we saw the coaches and players and, frankly, those that were tuned into the game, all traumatized, including myself personally just thinking through what is happening, what is taking place in real time.”
Vincent played 14 seasons in the NFL and he said that he never saw anything like what happened to Hamlin on Monday night.
“It was really about Damar,” he said. “So immediately my player hat went on. How do you resume play after you’ve seen such a traumatic event occur in front of you real time? That’s the way we were thinking about it.”
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