The NFL is still unsure how it will handle the resumption of play between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills, league officials said Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The game will not resume this week, but otherwise “everything is being considered,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said on a conference call.
- Vincent said that the preliminary talks on the scenarios of how the game should be handled have only just begun and will continue in the hours and days to come.
- He declined to rule out anything, whether it be resuming play next week after the regular season wraps up this weekend and postponing the start of the playoffs, doing away with bye week before the Super Bowl to allow extra time for that game create. Or eliminate the game altogether.
- The NFL has scheduled the Bengals’ regular season finale against the Baltimore Ravens for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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The Bengals coach says the team is focused on Sunday while supporting the players
backstory
The game was halted after Bill’s safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in the first quarter of the teams’ Monday Night Football matchup.
Hamlin is in critical condition at a Cincinnati hospital after collapsing and suffering cardiac arrest on the field, although the Bills have reported “signs of improvement” in his condition.
Over the last two days, Vincent said the league’s focus has been completely on “the health and wellbeing of Damar first and foremost” and secondly on supporting the Bills and Bengals coaching staff and players and making sure they are having the necessary resources ensure optimal mental health.
“I literally started getting into it this morning… hope to move forward full steam ahead after this call.”
NFL officials have had some experience fumbling with schedules thanks to the experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 season. And Vincent said those “guiding principles” could come into play as he, commissioner Roger Goodell and others determine how to handle this game, which had some impact on first place in the AFC, which Buffalo currently leads, closely following from Kansas City and then Cincinnati.
However, Vincent reiterated that there is no immediate timeline for determining how to proceed.
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(Photo: Kareem Elgazzar / USA Today)