Damn, that’s horrible. And yeah treatment needs to be near immediate for survival rate to be good. It goes from almost 100% survival with treatment in first minute to ~80% at 2 minutes and rapidly declines from there. Or so I gather from Dr. Google
My guess is that it’s going to depend on
A) what happens with Damar Hamlin
B) exactly what they’re giving up by forfeiting (which will depend on the outcome of Week 18)
If it’s a question of being the #6 vs #7 seed they’re more likely to forfeit than if the #1 seed is on the line. And the better the news about Damar Hamlin the less likely anyone is to forfeit.
That said, I assume the NFL will come up with a plan well before then. But the teams’ responses to the NFL plan may take more time.
On a much lighter note, how does an NFL coach not know his own teams playoff scenarios heading in to week 17? Ron Rivera is an idiot.
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Based on a variety of reports, the @NFL did not make the decision to suspend the Bengals-Bills game. Rather, players/captains and coaches from both teams, who had witnessed Bills safety Damar Hamlin getting CPR for 8 minutes, said they would not continue the game. #NFL
https://twitter.com/DavidShuster/status/1610119800163897346?t=UbquRXzGLHJMkupyfQzi3A&s=19
https://twitter.com/Deadspin/status/1610125595874103296?t=UOoGhQswSb5NfaJnwHtzcQ&s=19
Source: Bills are flying home. They are not staying in Cincinnati.
Yeah, that matches what the announcers were saying too.
Cincinnati Enquirer has a story… only information I hadn’t seen already was that an AED was required (and presumably used). That obviously wasn’t shown on TV, but would have been very emotional for the players to see.
make sense. they can’t just show up at an ER/ICU w buses of people. they can’t easily find hotels for the 100+ people. it’s kind of close and those players/team people who fly home can spend time with their own family and zip back quickly tomorrow or whenever. i am sure some part of the team entourage is there with him to relay stuff back and forth, and not just some no-name intern.
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ESPN reported that Stefon Diggs is there at the hospital.
It’s hard to believe they’re not releasing any information tonight. Seems like a bad sign but hopefully I am reading too much into that.
Yeah, after watching the replay I agree. Tee Higgins saw Hamlin come over and Tee laid the hit in Hamlin’s chest instead of allowing Hamlin to hit him first. This is probably very tough on Tee also.
Yeah, it’s really not in any way Tee Higgins’ fault, but I’m sure it’s tough on him all the same. He tweeted out a message of support, but that doesn’t say much about how he’s feeling.
Accurate… several players are staying in Cincinnati, but the busses have left the stadium and they’re flying back overnight.
Yeah, it was an odd play and the way that Higgins initiated the contact (using this term in the way it normally is used in football) likely has him questioning ‘what if…’ There were some clips of Higgins looking distraught and hugging his mother in the tunnel underneath the stadium. He did appear to be taking it really hard last night, but then again emotions were still very raw.
Bills saying “cardiac arrest” in an update issued by the team.
That was obvious.
Or else they would not have been performing CPR and/or using an AED.
Cause of the cardiac arrest is still just speculation, which is why people having been talking about “commotio cordis.”
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So no date on the reschedule. I mean seriously they could just skip it but one possibility would be if they game has playoff seeding implications (which it probably will) and they decided they absolutely have to play is to play the game on WC weekend, shift the playoffs out a week and eliminate the BYE week before SB. I t think Twig suggested something similar yesterday.
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It seems a little unfair to the Bengals to not give them a chance to better the Bills. Especially when Zac Taylor was seemingly suggesting suspending play. And I’m admittedly biased because the Bengals are my second favorite team and certainly the more likely of my two teams to go all the way this year (although a Bengals Seahawks Super Bowl remains possible 
).
Now if the Bengals lose on Sunday and the Bills win, maybe it matters less… I haven’t run through the scenarios.
I was thinking that if the Bengals won, that put them ahead of the Bills, but a loss or tie (or cancellation) leaves the Bills ahead of the Bengals. They were calling it “the game of the year” going in. Potentially the #1 seed is at stake as well.
But postponing the Wildcard games, the Division games, and the League Championship games all by a week is an admittedly radical solution.
It might be what goes over best with fans though. We shall see. One of the ESPN broadcasters last night commented “I don’t envy the decision-makers at the NFL who have to figure this out” or something close to that. I agree. It’s a mess, but they obviously have to make a decision about what to do.
Funny.
If the game absolutely must be played, it should be tomorrow or WC week. They could easily postpone only the AFC bracket, play the NFC bracket as is, except to postpone the NFC Championship by a week, so that both Conference champions have the same amount of rest for the Superb Owl.
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Pretty sure losing at home to the Trubisky Steelers disqualifies you from any #1 seed consideration. I say just cancel the game and move on.
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call it a tie IMO and move on
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Only reason to play it is contract incentives from the player perspective. Not sure how pay works if they just cancel it midgame. Plenty of guys on the roster who aren’t totally loaded.