His recovery allows everyone to skip the part where this would almost certainly still be happening even if he remained unconscious
There was no such certainty then about what would happen to the suspended Bills-Bengals game, but by Thursday it was announced that the game would not be resumed. Instead, the NFL hatched a plan to deal with playoff-seeding scenarios that could arise after Sunday’s games, including the possibility of a neutral-site AFC championship game if Buffalo or Cincinnati end up being denied the chance of earning the top seed due to the Week 17 cancellation.
Article contentBuffalo Bills offensive tackle Spencer Brown pauses as Damar Hamlin is examined by medical staff during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, in Cincinnati. Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field during Monday Night Football may serve as a wake-up call for many Canadians says a spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.But it’s also evident that the league’s main priority was to minimize disruption, to keep its season grinding forward — and to spend as little time as possible revisiting the events of Monday night. Thursday’s cancellation of Bills-Bengals doesn’t just allow the NFL to get the playoffs started on schedule next weekend, it avoids putting both teams back on the same field where one of the players almost died, and technically may have done so before being brought back to life thanks to emergency personnel on the scene. The Bills will be at home to play the New England Patriots, the Bengals will host the Baltimore Ravens. Just different enough as to not bring immediate reminders of what happened the last time both teams were on the field six days earlier.Article content This was set in motion days ago, and in the interim Hamlin has regained consciousness, had a breathing tube removed, communicated with his family and teammates and, crucially, has had positive results on neurological tests. Doctors have said the best-case scenario is that Hamlin is able to return to his pre-cardiac-arrest state. This is wonderful news, and it will allow the NFL to soldier on this weekend, with the games no doubt to include tributes to the medical teams that saved Hamlin and prayers for his continued recovery. It will also allow everyone to skip past the part where all of this would almost certainly still be happening even if Hamlin remained unconscious and in distress. The Bills and Bengals were in tears on Monday night as one of their own underwent life-saving treatment while he lacked vital signs on the Paycor Stadium turf, and by Tuesday they were told that they had games to play in five days. Even now, with the good news about Hamlin’s improving condition and the blessing from his father that he would want his teammates to get back to work, the Bills are preparing for a ridiculous task. Quarterback Josh Allen in his Thursday press conference seemed an emotional mess, happy and sad in gusts and basically overwhelmed by it all.Article contentHamlin’s teammates on the defensive side of the ball, and especially in the secondary, would be that much more distracted by the events of the past few days. Does anyone imagine that they have been, will be, properly preparing for the rigours of an NFL game? The same is also true of the Bengals, where receiver Tee Higgins, who was involved in the collision that preceded Hamlin’s medical event, is said to have been devastated by what happened. Players throughout the league have said that they remain shaken by Hamlin’s frightening ordeal. And yet the games were always going to happen, even though the NFL has an off week built into its playoff schedule, before the Super Bowl, which might have allowed for a more meaningful pause. The league would rather just keep on keeping on. It’s what it does.Article content Hamlin’s cardiac arrest has been used by some as further proof of football’s violence, a claim that ignores that athletes in other sports have also, rarely, suffered similar events on the field of play. This isn’t part of the brain-injury concerns that have threatened the sport, even if critics are trying to jam it in there. As it happens, this season has provided plenty of that on its own. Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered blows to the head in two straight games, missed three weeks with concussion symptoms, returned to play and will now miss his second game after a concussion in Week 16 — in a game that he finished. Neither the league nor the Dolphins have suggested anyone did anything wrong in putting him back out there, and if Miami makes the playoffs he might be out there again.sstinson@postmedia.com
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