Damar Hamlin fallout: ESPN’s Joe Buck hits back at NFL’s denials about restarting play in Cincinnati

ESPN announcer Joe Buck has doubled down on his claim that the NFL wanted players to resume Monday’s play in Cincinnati following Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s sudden heart attack.

Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations and a former NFL defensive back who played three seasons in Buffalo, denied that claim in a Monday night conference call with reporters: “I’m not sure where that came from. “.

But talking to him New York PostBuck repeated his claim that an NFL representative told the network that play would resume after a five-minute warm-up period.

ESPN announcer Joe Buck has doubled down on his claim that the NFL wanted players to resume Monday’s play in Cincinnati following Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s sudden heart attack.

Buffalo Bills gather as an ambulance parks on the field while CPR is administered to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) after a play in the first quarter of the NFL Week 17 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati. The game was suspended with a suspension in the first quarter after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) was taken away in an ambulance following a play.

“They said they’re going to give these players a five-minute warmup to get them ready,” Buck told the Post.

Hamlin remains sedated in critical condition after suffering a sudden heart attack during Monday’s game in Cincinnati. He was hurt in the first quarter after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

Higgins’ shoulder impacted Hamlin’s chest on the play, but it’s hard to say if that caused the Bills player to have a heart attack. After the collision, Hamlin leaned over but wobbled rapidly before collapsing onto the grass, where he lay motionless.

Troy Vincent (left), the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations and a former NFL defensive back who played three seasons in Buffalo, denied Buck’s claim in a Monday night conference call with reporters: “I’m not sure where that came from.’ Hamlin (right) remains in critical condition at a Cincinnati hospital.

Hamlin remains sedated in critical condition after suffering a sudden heart attack during Monday’s game in Cincinnati. He was hurt in the first quarter after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Higgins’ shoulder impacted Hamlin’s chest on the play, but it’s hard to say if that caused the Bills player to have a heart attack. After the collision, Hamlin leaned over but wobbled rapidly before collapsing onto the grass, where he lay motionless.

Shortly thereafter, as concerned teammates gathered and an ambulance arrived, Buck told the ESPN audience that the players would have five minutes to warm up before play resumed.

“The two head coaches you can see got together,” Buck said, referring to Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor and Buffalo’s Sean McDermott. And they’ll have five minutes to warm up.

Buck would later tell sideline reporter Lisa Salters: ‘Lisa, like we said, they’ve been given five minutes to quote ‘get ready’ to play again. That’s the word we get from the league and the word we get from the field, but no one moves.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was seen warming up around this time.

Head Coach Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills and Head Coach Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals speak during their game suspension following the injury to Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin #3 at Paycor Stadium

Bengals coach Zac Taylor gets credit for running his team off the field Monday night.

Despite Buck’s claim, Vincent insists that the NFL never gave such a directive.

“Frankly, there was no period of time for the players to warm up,” Vincent told reporters on Monday. ‘Frankly, all we asked was that [referee] Shawn [Hochuli] communicate with both head coaches to ensure they had adequate time inside the locker room to discuss what they felt was best.

‘So I’m not sure where that came from. The five-minute warmup never crossed my mind, personally. And I was the one who… who was communicating with the Commissioner. It never, frankly, never crossed our minds to talk about warming up to resume the game. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. And that’s not a place we should be.

Regardless of NFL directives at the time, it appears that it was Taylor and McDermott who decided to send their teams back to the locker room after the Bengals coach reached out to his Bills counterpart to discuss the situation.

“What a classy move by Taylor,” Kentucky newscaster Paxton Boyd tweeted.

Hamlin’s family specifically criticized Taylor in a statement Tuesday.

“We want to thank Coach Taylor and the Bengals for all they’ve done.”

Neither Taylor, McDermott nor the players involved have addressed the media since Hamlin’s heart attack.

Hamlin’s family specifically criticized Taylor in a statement Tuesday.