NFL 2022 Season

[SparzWizard]

Just cancel the game.

Really hoping Hamlin recovers. This is scary and unfortunate.

[johnnygreen]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

[SparzWizard]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

Has to be sometime later this week. Or reschedule the KC/LV game to the same day as this game that will be played later on. Idk.

Have to imagine this looks really bad on the NFL for pushing the agenda to make it an 18-week schedule.

[Neurotic Guy]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

All true but I think it doesn’t matter.   It’s something they’ll figure out later. For now, they just need to do the right thing in the moment. 
The one thing that could give them pause is if there is a chance that there could be some positive news.  If by some miraculous turn of events there was word that he is OK, then the NFL office can start thinking about the practical aspects - maybe get the players out there.

League has postponed the game.  Right move.

[ozgod]

Prayers up for Damar Hamlin  What a terrible thing to happen. Closest thing I can remember to this is Christian Eriksen collapsing against Finland after suffering a cardiac arrest. The devastation on the players' faces...it really makes the game unimportant. This is where the game's overseers have to figure out a way forward that accommodates all the stakeholders - fans, players, teams, the league, commercial partners - and balances all that against the gravity of what just happened, with a player in critical condition and at genuine risk of dying. Players aren't robots, they have emotions, and this is a high risk contact sport that requires full concentration, and where lack thereof might lead to more injuries.

Fully support suspending the game. They can figure out when to play it next or how to address the impact its result will have on seeding and all that stuff, which to be honest doesn't seem that important right now.

If we were to draw a parallel to the Denmark Finland game, Eriksen actually died on the pitch and was revived and the players eventually decided to continue with the game. Maybe that's what happens here, once everyone has had a chance to have a breath.

[mqtcelticsfan]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

Just don’t. Let both teams end the season with 16 games, use their winning percentage to determine playoff seeding and be done with it. It’s what MLB did with the Marlins when Jose Fernandez died and it was the only right decision. The world will move on if playoff seeding ends up “wrong” because the Bills and Bengals only played 16 games.

[Celtics2021]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

Just don’t. Let both teams end the season with 16 games, use their winning percentage to determine playoff seeding and be done with it. It’s what MLB did with the Marlins when Jose Fernandez died and it was the only right decision. The world will move on if playoff seeding ends up “wrong” because the Bills and Bengals only played 16 games.

Exactly right.  The NBA did the same thing with the Celtics after the marathon, and the Pacers accordingly finished a half game ahead of the Nets in the standings.  Sometimes games just don’t get played, because they aren’t as important.

[johnnygreen]

I had just heard about Jeremy Renner a few hours earlier, that he is in the intensive care unit in critical but stable condition after a snow plowing accident. Crazy and unfortunate day.

[bdm860]

It would be one thing if both these teams were out of playoff contention. However, this game has significant playoff implications for both teams. When do you make up this game, when their already going into the final week on short rest?

Just don’t. Let both teams end the season with 16 games, use their winning percentage to determine playoff seeding and be done with it. It’s what MLB did with the Marlins when Jose Fernandez died and it was the only right decision. The world will move on if playoff seeding ends up “wrong” because the Bills and Bengals only played 16 games.

Exactly right.  The NBA did the same thing with the Celtics after the marathon, and the Pacers accordingly finished a half game ahead of the Nets in the standings.  Sometimes games just don’t get played, because they aren’t as important.

These aren't great examples for a few reasons:

1. MLB often has teams playing less than the 162 games scheduled due to rain outs late in the season when there's no time to make up games and it has no playoff implications.  Just in the last 10 years, even excluding the canceled game for Fernandez, 6 of 10 seasons still had teams playing less than the full schedule of games.

2. For Jose Fernandez, the game that was canceled was ATL/MIA, neither was in the playoff race with only 6 games left in the season after that game.

3. In the NBA for Celtics/Pacers, this also didn't have any playoff implications.  Pacers were already locked into the 3rd seed, and Celtics were locked into the 7th.  No matter the outcome of the game, no playoff seedings would change.  (Looking back at the standings now, it looks like the Pacers would have tied the Nets record had they lost to the Celtics, and the Nets had the better head-to-head record over the Pacers so it looks like Nets could have gotten the 3rd seed.  But the playoff tiebreakers were changed in 2016.  In 2013, the first tie breaker was if you won your division, and the Pacers had that locked up, so no matter what they would have been the 3rd seed.).

Will be interesting to see how the NFL handles this one.

[ozgod]

Apparently Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest…that’s what it looked like to me at first glance, the way he just collapsed was very similar to Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest against Finland at Euro 2020. In Hamlin’s case it could also be commotio cordis, where a blow to the chest just happened to put his heart into arrhythmia, while Eriksen just suffered cardiac arrest. Like Hamlin, Eriksen’s heart stopped beating and he had to be revived by paramedics. Thankfully for him he recovered and was fitted with an ICD and was able to resume playing. Let’s hope Hamlin follows a similar path to recovery.

It’s times like these that we realize these athletes, superhuman and super fit they may seem to us, aren’t robots…they’re human beings with families just like us, playing a dangerous sport, not just numbers on a screen.  Things like seedings and all that don’t seem all that important right now when someone’s life is on the line playing the sport they loved. But eventually the powers that be will have to figure out a way forward.

[Birdman]

I’m a Bengals fan & hope the young man pulls thru..reminds me of Hank Gathers the time he collapse..game doesn’t means nothing, just a game, this is real life…far as game goes, they probably have a tied

[Neurotic Guy]

A friend of mine had cardiac arrest at a tennis club on the court about 10 years ago.  AED was administered quickly, he survived, had a pacemaker implanted and is 65 today and healthy.  My good friend’s brother-in-law had cardiac arrest while jogging on the street  - probably 5 years ago.  Also in his 50’s at the time - amazingly survived and is healthy today. Many die from this, but those who get treatment quickly survive and can get back to normal.  I hope that’s the case for Hamlin. As for playing again, I’m tempted to say that I hope he retires - at 24, with money, opportunities, and health. But I know I don’t live in his shoes - just hope he gets his health and makes the right decision for himself whatever that is.

As for the game, how about a forfeit?  Bills were losing at the time the game was called. Simply forfeit, take the loss, hopefully get the news that Hamlin will be ok, put the game behind you, regroup, knock the stuffing out of NE next week, and go to bat as the 3 seed if Cincy wins next week.

[Roy H.]

A friend of mine had cardiac arrest at a tennis club on the court about 10 years ago.  AED was administered quickly, he survived, had a pacemaker implanted and is 65 today and healthy.  My good friend’s brother-in-law had cardiac arrest while jogging on the street  - probably 5 years ago.  Also in his 50’s at the time - amazingly survived and is healthy today. Many die from this, but those who get treatment quickly survive and can get back to normal.  I hope that’s the case for Hamlin. As for playing again, I’m tempted to say that I hope he retires - at 24, with money, opportunities, and health. But I know I don’t live in his shoes - just hope he gets his health and makes the right decision for himself whatever that is.

The other piece of this regarding whether he plays again:  will the Bills, or another team, let him?

It reminds me of the Chris Bosh situation, where he wanted to come back but the Heat doctors were opposed.  In that case, though, I think Bosh had a long-term, guaranteed contract, so he could just get paid as he was forced to retire.  If you're a young player who hasn't gotten that first big contract, I can see being tempted to come back, but I'm not sure if I see an NFL team signing him due to the risk and the potential liability.

As for the game, how about a forfeit?  Bills were losing at the time the game was called. Simply forfeit, take the loss, hopefully get the news that Hamlin will be ok, put the game behind you, regroup, knock the stuffing out of NE next week, and go to bat as the 3 seed if Cincy wins next week.

I wonder, can the Commissioner deem it a tie?  Or, just not play the game, giving Buffalo and Cincy a 16 game season?

[ozgod]

A friend of mine had cardiac arrest at a tennis club on the court about 10 years ago.  AED was administered quickly, he survived, had a pacemaker implanted and is 65 today and healthy.  My good friend’s brother-in-law had cardiac arrest while jogging on the street  - probably 5 years ago.  Also in his 50’s at the time - amazingly survived and is healthy today. Many die from this, but those who get treatment quickly survive and can get back to normal.  I hope that’s the case for Hamlin. As for playing again, I’m tempted to say that I hope he retires - at 24, with money, opportunities, and health. But I know I don’t live in his shoes - just hope he gets his health and makes the right decision for himself whatever that is.

The other piece of this regarding whether he plays again:  will the Bills, or another team, let him?

It reminds me of the Chris Bosh situation, where he wanted to come back but the Heat doctors were opposed.  In that case, though, I think Bosh had a long-term, guaranteed contract, so he could just get paid as he was forced to retire.  If you're a young player who hasn't gotten that first big contract, I can see being tempted to come back, but I'm not sure if I see an NFL team signing him due to the risk and the potential liability.

Again using the Eriksen situation as a precedent, he actually had to terminate his contract with Inter Milan because Serie A did not allow him to play with an implanted defibrillator. So he ended up playing in the Premier League, first with Brentford and then with Manchester United. But you can understand why teams might be reluctant to have him play again, especially if it's determined that, like Hank Gathers, it was a pre-existing condition that might have contributed to his cardiac arrest. I will emphasize that this is pure speculation on my part, obviously there is no update as to what might have caused his cardiac arrest.

As for the game, how about a forfeit?  Bills were losing at the time the game was called. Simply forfeit, take the loss, hopefully get the news that Hamlin will be ok, put the game behind you, regroup, knock the stuffing out of NE next week, and go to bat as the 3 seed if Cincy wins next week.

I wonder, can the Commissioner deem it a tie?  Or, just not play the game, giving Buffalo and Cincy a 16 game season?

I'm sure there's a lot of beancounters in New York trying to figure all that out right now...work out all the possible scenarios, work out what the possible pushback will be from teams in terms of the impact on the playoffs. I think Goodell has the executive powers to engineer those outcomes you mentioned, though.

[Neurotic Guy]

A friend of mine had cardiac arrest at a tennis club on the court about 10 years ago.  AED was administered quickly, he survived, had a pacemaker implanted and is 65 today and healthy.  My good friend’s brother-in-law had cardiac arrest while jogging on the street  - probably 5 years ago.  Also in his 50’s at the time - amazingly survived and is healthy today. Many die from this, but those who get treatment quickly survive and can get back to normal.  I hope that’s the case for Hamlin. As for playing again, I’m tempted to say that I hope he retires - at 24, with money, opportunities, and health. But I know I don’t live in his shoes - just hope he gets his health and makes the right decision for himself whatever that is.

The other piece of this regarding whether he plays again:  will the Bills, or another team, let him?

It reminds me of the Chris Bosh situation, where he wanted to come back but the Heat doctors were opposed.  In that case, though, I think Bosh had a long-term, guaranteed contract, so he could just get paid as  was forced to retire.  If you're a young player who hasn't gotten that first big contract, I can see being tempted to come back, but I'm not sure if I see an NFL team signing him due to the risk and the potential liability.

As for the game, how about a forfeit?  Bills were losing at the time the game was called. Simply forfeit, take the loss, hopefully get the news that Hamlin will be ok, put the game behind you, regroup, knock the stuffing out of NE next week, and go to bat as the 3 seed if Cincy wins next week.

I wonder, can the Commissioner deem it a tie?  Or, just not play the game, giving Buffalo and Cincy a 16 game season?

Teams might not let him play.  Also consider the emotional and cognitive trauma - coming back into the intensely competitive arena -- not sure how he does that.  I guess people do that all the time after head injuries, tendon tears, limb and joint injuries, but having your heart stop has to be an experience on a different level.   With  the attention he'll get, and offers that I am sure will come his way, he should be fine financially if he is able to handle that aspect. Not sure what kind of insurance players at Hamlin's stage of their career get, but I would think he is probably well-insured.

Re: forfeit.  There is something psychological that I see as possibly appealing to the Bills to forfeit the game -- almost in honor of Hamlin... Making the statement that he is what matters, not a game.  I think maybe it allows them to close the book and move forward.  Unfortunately (or fittingly), they probably would end up in Cincinnati in round 2.  I think they'd have the football world outside of Cincy fans rooting for them.