SageAgainstTheMachine

I'll say this - if there are individuals on the team who feel they can't play, the team should honor their wishes. Dane Jackson springs to mind as someone who is not only very close to Damar but who suffered a frightening injury earlier himself. But the whole team not playing the game? Man, I just think that's a pandora's box of consequences. Competition for the postseason IS the game. Between players and coaches the NFL is comprised of like 3,000 guys. The chances of something awful happening to one of those people over the course of the season is really really high. The world can be unkind.

Sorry but the NFL won’t just tolerate that. It’s a damn hard situation for the Bills but it’s not like Damar gets better by us not playing.

GOAT practice QB, presumably.

*****. Yes.

They’ll take him off the ventilator and he may not make it despite any number of positive indicators. I think it makes a lot of sense not to give official statements.

Yeah I just don't see things going well for the Bills here. We're so used to movies where whoever plays with the most emotions comes out on top and the Bills players will certainly be more emotional than the other team...but a lot of those emotions aren't the kind that make you perform better in real life. NFL teams excel when they play with swagger. It's irrational but you need some of that feeling that you're immortal to rise to the top of a combat sport. Watching a teammate take a regular everyday hit and then have his heart stop does the exact opposite.

They got deleted and banned real quick but there were posters on this board last night doing infuriating things like calling Tee Higgins dirty, calling the league soft for postponing and blaming Covid vaccines. Bottom line, some percentage of fans from every fan base is awful.

I am so very indifferent right now to the results of the Bills' season and I suspect I will be until we know Damar is out of the woods and on his way to health. I can't imagine how the players feel. They're supposed to think about prepping for New England starting tomorrow, right? With their brother potentially on his death bed?

I hope that the money that's coming in is managed well and a large charitable organization is born out of it helping thousands of underprivileged kids. That's the legacy Hamlin deserves no matter how long he lives.

I like the coin flip. Restarting yesterday's game where it left off would not only throw off the whole schedule, it would be a bizarre and maudlin affair that's anathema to entertainment. I'd even be fine with them using a RNG and giving the Bengals a 60% chance since they were up 7-3 and driving.

Makes me think of Dale Earnhardt too.

I agree completely. For whatever it's worth I hope Clark and Van Pelt win some sort of broadcasting award for last night. They had to do a job that was very different than the one they thought they came to work to do and they did it with aplomb.

Given roster turnover I can’t imagine there are any two players in the NFL with more than two degrees of separation.

Everyone understands that this was a freak accident. Changing rules would be like saying don't walk on sidewalks because an air conditioner might fall on your head.

Whatever happens for the rest of the season I've got love and empathy for this 2022 team. Speaking personally, a certain amount of adversity can be a shot in the arm. But things can compile to a point where you lost motivation and I wouldn't blame them at all.

I think the thing that makes this so terrifying is that it’s a true freak accident with no preventable behavior like head injuries. No Damar Hamlin Rule is coming to make it so a heart won’t stop. Just a memento mori. Gather ye rosebuds.

Could go that way or you could have some traumatized players wondering if they’re going to die when they get hit. I’m not prepared to predict any reactions. Human minds and motivations are complex.

Just saw a really good point - if they announce immediately that the game is postponed, the emergency vehicles now have to deal with prohibitive traffic when seconds count.

Really, I mean…a once in a lifetime freak life threatening injury happens and it has to be the team whose city is getting over a natural disaster.

Saw some YouTube channels peddling “RIP Damar Hamlin” for clicks. As we celebrate the vast majority of people who are acting decently, certain others are below pond scum.

I tend not to think of owners too much when it comes to franchise character unless they’re beyond the pale like Snyder, just because…good luck finding a billionaire with no skeletons.

I was waking up every couple hours and bracing myself for grim news whenI checked my phone.

Everyone involved with the Bengals showed utter class last night, including the fans who applauded the devastated Bills as they left the field. Regardless of what you think the NFL was intending to do at the time I’ve got huge respect for Zac Taylor finding Sean McDermott and telling him he’d agree to whatever the Bills wanted to do. There were multiple reports of Joe Burrow and other Bengals players joining the Bills in their locker room for support. All of this, of course, amounts to basic human decency, but decency doesn’t always get prioritized when there’s competition on the line and when there’s a stressful unprecedented situation. It’s very cool to me that, ever since 2017, these two teams and fan bases feel bonded over good will.

It’s one of the ways people are praying, putting resources into something Damar Hamlin cares about. Maybe there’s an irrationality to it but it’s about emotion. People have to put their emotions somewhere. Who cares about how the money is processed right now?

I don't think we'll know anything further tonight. Best in mental health to those who stay tuned in. Prayers up for Damar as he fights.