The NFL is coming under fire after reports surfaced that they were pressuring the Bills and Bengals to resume play after Damar Hamlin’s life-threatening injury during the first quarter of their Monday Night Football game. But this wasn’t the first time a player was motionless after an injury and carted off the field in an ambulance, and they were just trying to follow protocol. They were between a rock and a hard place considering this game had major playoff implications for both teams. Besides, the reports were exaggerated as the league actually made zero demands of the players and eventually did the right thing by postponing the conclusion of the game.
Doug Gottlieb: “There is a protocol for it, and we‘ve had players taken off the field...Ryan Shazier was motionless on the same football field and the game wasn’t canceled then...but I don’t think it makes the NFL out to be some sinister organization because of it.”