Damar Hamlin is headed home to Buffalo!

Traut

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I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t stay at holiday inn express last night, but generally with a serious trauma the EMTs are in radio communication with the hospital regarding what to do. And at an NFL game, there’s already doctors there. So even if the prognosis was very bad, I doubt they would say, eh we’re just gonna call it here and not hurry. It’s more likely a decision was made with and by doctors that he could receive better care stationary in the ambulance than hauling ass to the hospital.
This is almost certainly correct. The best thing he has going for him is unlike almost anyone else he got immediate attention from skilled EMTs and doctors in the stadium. NFL stadiums have all sorts of medical equipment.

Generally one needs to be rushed to a hospital to (1) receive that level of care and/or (2) need immediate surgery.

They were very likely to have been able to make a proper diagnosis at the scene and determined the proper course of care.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Whether to resume/cancel/call it a tie/etc is a much harder question-but not one thst needs to be answered tonight
Well, except the Bills/refs/everyone else necessary to make an NFL game happen need to know if they need to stay in Cincinnati tonight and potentially find lodging and rearrange travel. I think you do have to decide tonight whether or not you’re playing tomorrow.
 

cornwalls@6

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All things considered, the game was postponed in a little more than an hour. I know we live in instant gratification America, but it’s hard for me find too much fault with how this was handled.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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I guess the good news from the statement that he is in critical condition in the hospital means that whatever happened with the ambulance was not because he was already dead.
 

AB in DC

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Just catching up here. Did I read that someone tried to resume the game and then the coaches said Fuck it?
Would love to see video of that if that's around.
 

amh03

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Sigh…prayers for Hamlin & his family...

And I’m also thinking of Tee Higgins who he collided with…really has to be tough for him too, as for all members of both teams.
 

DanoooME

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It's smart to suspend the game and ESPN has done a good job of covering what's going on given the limited information available.

I feel awful for Tee Higgins. Imagine what he feels like, being the guy that Hamlin was tackling.
 

soxhop411

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Very impressed by Taylor essentially taking the decision out of the leagues hands by pulling the Bengals off the field and giving cover for McDermott to do the same.
I know its not remotely the same. But its reminds to the Donald Sterling situation, in which the the NBA players were planning on walking out if Silver and the owners did not take appropriate action.

its sad that it has to be the players (and coaches)who yet again are the ones who have to put their foot down and say, in essence that no. “We will not continue, this is more than just a game to us.”

Just remember this was Sean McDermott and Zac Taylor getting this game stopped. League was ready to begin after a five minute warm-up period. Coaches stepped in. Good on them.
View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1610109692839182339
 

luckiestman

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Zac Taylor and Booger, guys whom I will reevaluate my opinion of.

Player reactions are hard to watch
 

ifmanis5

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Just catching up here. Did I read that someone tried to resume the game and then the coaches said Fuck it?
Would love to see video of that if that's around.
Seems like the league ordered the officials to give the teams a 5 minute warmup and then restart the game. The coaches stepped in and said that wasn't possible. Don't know for sure yet but it seems like that's how it went down.
 

BaseballJones

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Sigh…prayers for Hamlin & his family...

And I’m also thinking of Tee Higgins who he collided with…really has to be tough for him too, as for all members of both teams.
In the Kevin Everett situation, Giants' WR Domenik Hixon, who was the one who collided with him, was devastated and shook for a long time afterward.
 

YTF

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No I think exactly the opposite. The timing makes it clear that nobody at ESPN has thought through how they would handle an incident like this, which is pretty shocking for how much money they’ve put into the rights. It’s disgusting and disrespectful.
Actually, given the circumstances I think they've handled it quite well. Like it or not this is a breaking news situation. The ESPN personnel on site are the the ones reporting this sad news as it unfolds.
 

bunchabums

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All things considered, the game was postponed in a little more than an hour. I know we live in instant gratification America, but it’s hard for me find too much fault with how this was handled.
Good point. It's "easy" to say how it should be handled in the moment. Harder when you are in the middle of it.
 

8slim

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Just catching up here. Did I read that someone tried to resume the game and then the coaches said Fuck it?
Would love to see video of that if that's around.
The immediate word was that they’d resume the game in 5 minutes after the ambulance left the field. But who really knows what was going on. Possible that was procedure “in the book” but the refs and coaches quickly decided to scrap that. I think we need to learn more before we rip the league.
 

joe dokes

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They probably don’t have anybody else at ESPN at 10 pm with proper gravitas on a Monday night.
If someone thinks it's the wrong time to point this out, I plead guilty, but every football fan over 50 knows some names...lambeau, nagurski, Lombardi, and, more than likely Chuck Hughes. But not schefter, it seemed. (Unless I missed it when I timed elsewhere).
Kolber did her job. McFarland his. Under the most difficult circumstances.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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The immediate word was that they’d resume the game in 5 minutes after the ambulance left the field. But who really knows what was going on. Possible that was procedure “in the book” but the refs and coaches quickly decided to scrap that. I think we need to learn more before we rip the league.
Agree. As much I would like to blame the league here, need to find more info. They ultimately got this right which seems most important.
 

doc

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That's a really interesting possibility and while super, super rare MAY be statistically more likely due to a blunt chest injury causing a primary cardiac injury. That could cause tamponade. Damaged/torn muscle, intact pericardium. Hope not, much, much harder to treat - have to crack his chest. Had a case 2 years ago of blunt atrial rupture after a car accident. Tamponade, classic signs. Thought of needling his pericardium (would have killed him outright - I have nightmares) but bedside ultrasound showed an atrial clot (which saved his life). Went to OR and cardiothoracic surgeon (who happened to be there for another case - a miracle) repaired his atrial tear - went home 5 days later. Gnarly.

Aortic injury/tear
Pulmonary vascular injury (Bledsoe)
Cardiac dysthymia unrelated to trauma (I haven't seen play)
Tension pneumothorax
Just horrible. Hoping for a great save.

Receiver's shoulder went straight into Hamlin's chest, he held on, twisted him down for the tackle, stood up adjusted his helmet , reached for his chest and collapsed backwards
There is plenty of video of the hit out there.
 

kenneycb

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If someone thinks it's the wrong time to point this out, I plead guilty, but every football fan over 50 knows some names...lambeau, nagurski, Lombardi, and, more than likely Chuck Hughes. But not schefter, it seemed. (Unless I missed it when I timed elsewhere).
Kolber did her job. McFarland his. Under the most difficult circumstances.
Pulling those names and examples out on the spot after a player collapsed like he could look it up on Football-Reference while tap dancing on air is expecting too much IMO.
 

Marciano490

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Catching up. This is brutal. You can hear the tears in SVP’s and Lisa Salter’ voices. Ryan Clark acquitted himself very well.

Man the body is so impressive and so fragile.

Didn’t a hockey player block a shot off his chest protector and suffer something like this? Would’ve been a long time ago.
 

CaptainLaddie

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FWIW my wife's immediate reaction (she's an advanced practice nurse) was heart issue. Undiagnosed congenital heart problem of some kind, basically. Add in the impact from the helmet and that he didn't stay down immediately.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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If someone thinks it's the wrong time to point this out, I plead guilty, but every football fan over 50 knows some names...lambeau, nagurski, Lombardi, and, more than likely Chuck Hughes. But not schefter, it seemed. (Unless I missed it when I timed elsewhere).
Kolber did her job. McFarland his. Under the most difficult circumstances.
Schefter is purely a league mouthpiece with neither an original thought in his head nor an iota of journalistic skill.
 

kieckeredinthehead

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Actually, given the circumstances I think they've handled it quite well. Like it or not this is a breaking news situation. The ESPN personnel on site are the the ones reporting this sad news as it unfolds.
It sounds like the on air crew did well. I had to turn it off. The fact that they were still cutting to commercials, a few of which were particularly ill timed, suggests to me that ESPN, a company whose major product is live events, doesn’t have a basic playbook in the event of an on air tragedy of any kind. For people asking me what I’d do differently - I don’t know. That’s the point. I wouldn’t improvise, I’d have an employee spend a day thinking through what parts of the broadcast would continue, what parts wouldn’t, how to direct the personalities, etc. then have it available for director/producer to turn to when something comes up. It doesn’t seem like they have that. That’s surprising to me. That’s all I’ve been saying.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Catching up. This is brutal. You can hear the tears in SVP’s and Lisa Salter’ voices. Ryan Clark acquitted himself very well.

Man the body is so impressive and so fragile.

Didn’t a hockey player block a shot off his chest protector and suffer something like this? Would’ve been a long time ago.
Yup, Chris Pronger back in the mid-90s when he was with St. Louis.
 

Greg29fan

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Catching up. This is brutal. You can hear the tears in SVP’s and Lisa Salter’ voices. Ryan Clark acquitted himself very well.

Man the body is so impressive and so fragile.

Didn’t a hockey player block a shot off his chest protector and suffer something like this? Would’ve been a long time ago.
Chris Pronger in 1998 against the Red Wings.

https://www.ksdk.com/article/sports/remembering-chris-prongers-on-ice-collapse-after-getting-hit-near-the-heart-in-the-1997-playoffs/63-4ba4fcbd-b73d-4127-af2a-c93b5327d6b0#:~:text=Blues defenseman Chris Pronger falling,he lost consciousness and collapsed.
 

fiskful of dollars

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Receiver's shoulder went straight into Hamlin's chest, he held on, twisted him down for the tackle, stood up adjusted his helmet , reached for his chest and collapsed backwards
There is plenty of video of the hit out there.
Gotcha. Prob not gonna watch.
Sounds like blunt chest injury then, rather than primary dysrhythmia. I was just remembering the horrible video of Hank Gathers collapsing.
Other mechanisms are still in the differential dx but commotio seems the most likely despite his age.
 

joe dokes

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Pulling those names and examples out on the spot after a player collapsed like he could look it up on Football-Reference while tap dancing on air is expecting too much IMO.
Chuck Hughes, for a guy that is the football expert? No way is that "too much" so as to avoid saying "nothing like this ever never before.".

Is there a baseball announcer alive who hasn't heard of Ben Chapman?
 

ifmanis5

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Players are leaving the building. Certainly no usual post game pressers. Maybe we'll hear from the coaches at some point. Or maybe not.
 

radsoxfan

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FWIW my wife's immediate reaction (she's an advanced practice nurse) was heart issue. Undiagnosed congenital heart of some kind, basically.
Who knows if something congenital also going on, but this wasn't a random collapse.

He got hit in the chest and then his heart stopped, that's very different than the Hank Gathers/Reggie Lewis type collapse.
 

Seels

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I’ll ask again, what should they be doing differently? It’s a developing situation and they are doing the news piece of the network.
I thought ESPN was more or less fine just pointing out that this is something that is clearly prepped for, and if it isn't, that's a massive indictment on everyone.
 

PedrosRedGlove

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Zac Taylor and Booger, guys whom I will reevaluate my opinion of.

Player reactions are hard to watch
Booger, Schefter, Suzy Kolber, and Joe Buck all maintained pretty amazing composure given the situation. It felt like the league was trying to continue just based on their commentary at one point, it seemed like they were pleading for the game to be canceled.

Buck keeping it going and giving the updates about what was going on outside the locker room was impressive broadcasting. I think it was him who mentioned Diggs had exited the Bills' locker room in a towel, which was the first real word to me that the players were telling the league to F themselves.