The NFL is still unsure of how it will handle resuming the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, league officials said on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The game will not be resumed 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 preliminary discussions on the scenarios of how to handle the game have only just begun and will continue in the coming hours and days.
- He declined to rule out anything, whether it involves resuming the game next week following the completion of the regular season this weekend and delaying the start of the playoffs, eliminating the pre-Super Bowl bye week to give extra time to fit in this game, or eliminating the game altogether.
- The NFL has scheduled the Bengals’ regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens for 1 pm ET on Sunday.
GO DEEPER
Bengals coach says team is focused on Sunday while supporting players
Backstory
The game was suspended after Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during the first quarter of the teams’ matchup on “Monday Night Football.”
Hamlin is in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital after he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field, although the Bills have reported “signs of improvement” in his condition.
In the last two days, Vincent said the league’s focus has centered completely on “the health and well-being of Damar first and foremost,” and secondly, supporting the Bills and Bengals coaching staffs and players and making sure they have the resources necessary to ensure optimal mental health.
“I just literally began this morning, diving into that … hope to dive full steam ahead into that after this call.”
NFL officials have some experience finagling 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 did have some implications for first place in the AFC, which Buffalo currently leads, followed closely by Kansas City and then Cincinnati.
But Vincent reiterated that there is no immediate timeline for determining how to proceed.
More on Damar Hamlin:
(Photo: Kareem Elgazzar / USA Today)
.