The NFL world was and continues to be in absolute disbelief and horror following the tragic injury suffered by Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin against the Cincinnati Bengals. Fans are praying for the best for Hamlin, but are also justifiably enraged by the league’s handling of the situation on Monday night.
After Hamlin was taken to the University of Cincinnati hospital following being issued CPR and having an AED used, the NFL made a ruling that both sides would be issued five minutes to get the Bills and Bengals together to attempt to play football again on Monday night.
Thankfully Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and Bills head coach Sean McDermott met on the field and made the decision to bring both teams back to the locker room to suspend play temporarily, but fans are blasting the NFL for this initial ruling.
“The fact the NFL’s initial reaction was “you have 5 minutes to get ready” says so much. That’s so beyond cruel. Thankfully the team’s stepped in because of all the awful decisions the NFL makes, that’s one of the worst and most egregious I’ve seen,” tweeted Andy Herman of 247 Sports.
The fact the NFL’s initial reaction was “you have 5 minutes to get ready” says so much. That’s so beyond cruel. Thankfully the teams stepped in because of all the awful decisions the NFL makes, that’s one of the worst and most egregious I’ve seen.
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) January 3, 2023
“Whenever the league talks about player safety we should all remember that the NFL tried to make the players warm up for five minutes and restart this game before the coaches stepped in,” tweeted PFT Commenter of Barstool Sports.
Whenever the league talks about player safety we should all remember that the NFL tried to make the players warm up for five minutes and restart this game before the coaches stepped in
— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) January 3, 2023
“The NFL watched that kid get CPR and thought the teams needed five minutes to regroup. That’s wild,” tweeted John Syslop of OddsChecker.
https://twitter.com/sloprules/status/1610112094682193921
The league ultimately came to the right decision to postpone the game, but it certainly took far too long to do so.
That decision was only made after a lengthy suspension of the game initially, which is inexcusable considering the severity of the situation for Hamlin.
Many blasted the NFL for taking over an hour to come to the decision to finish the game at a later date was finally decided upon.
“This is not a weather delay. It’s time to go ahead and call game,” tweeted former NFL player Charles Woodson.
This is not a weather delay @NFL it’s time to go ahead and call game..
— Charles Woodson (@CharlesWoodson) January 3, 2023
It took the NFL over an hour to call this game. Never forget that,” tweeted RJ Ochoa of SB Nation.
It took the NFL over an hour to call this game.
Never forget that.
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 3, 2023
It was always going to be an awful situation given the horrible circumstances of the injury, but the NFL compounded things with just how poorly things were handled on Monday night.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.