"Unknown" high ranking official from Bills or Bengals trashes NFL and Troy Vincent for response

[machine gun kelly]

It’s funny as I was at one of my favorite sports restaurants Sunday afternoon and an acquaintance friend starte in on me The Bills, the Bengals, and the league was wrong not to resume the game.  Normally, he’s a decent guy and I think he was trying to get me to agree.

 

I did the exact opposite.  I used just logical arguments and brought up details of how events laid out.  Finally, I slightly raised my voice “Chuck, he basically was dead for 9 minutes and thankfully the first responders saved his life!”.  “How do you think any player or coach for that matter could’ve continued”.  He maintained until two of the women and another guy chimed in and told him they had to resuscitate him again at the ED.

 

He finally came off his soap box as he knows how passionate I am about the Bills, and another good friend for his Bears as he was born and raised in Chicago.  Finally I just said to Chuck if McD would’ve gone along with playing he would’ve permanently lost his locker room.

 

So if Vincent behind the scenes was advocating to resume play he and the league would’ve been crucified by the national and international media.  Not just the sports media, but Good Morning America, the Today Show, etc., etc.

 

I also said Chuck I want you to read something.  I showed him Skip Baylee’s comments, and the barrage of insanely passionate responses by current and past NFL players.  I encouraged him to keep reading all of the “You are sick remarks”. I said Do you want to latch your horse to that argument?  He seems to realize finally how on the wrong his comments were and let it go.

 

Amyway, I just wanted to share there are some idiots who really take that position, and how much heat any of us would catch for thinking am NFL game is worth more than a man’s life.

[BlazinBill]

Troy Vincent is the kind of guy that would throw at his own son at a father son game, so basically Tyrek Hill

[ToGoGo]

5 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

It must be because the majority of the people in r/nfl were praising the nfl for handling it perfectly and anyone suggesting the nfl wanted to continue the game was pretty much attacked lol.  Maybe we have a different perspective in Bills world 

 

the theory was ‘joe Buck misrepresented the normal ambulance protocol as what was happening currently on the field’ but ESPN stuck to their guns so that went out the window pretty fast 

 

I was told ‘so you actually think ESPN broadcasters have a way to communicate with the league office?’ many times and the answer to that was clearly a yes lol

 

You may have been talking to NFL shills or bots on Reddit. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Ever have a gung-ho coworker who is always pounding the tables for the rights of the workers?  Then, the minute management puts them in a supervisory or administrative role, they become the biggest toady and corporate shill?  One of the most disingenuous types you'll encounter in the real world.  Strikes me somewhat like this Mr. Vincent. 🤨

[Doc Brown]

All Troy Vincent had to say was "We didn't realize the full seriousness of this unprecedented situation until we heard from all parties on site and that's why we eventually decided as a collective unit to suspend the game.  We should've done it sooner and not leaned so heavily on previous protocols."  People are willing to forgive but he for some reason decided to go full cover up mode which apparently included lying and throwing other people under the bus.

[Solomon Grundy]

6 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

It's kinda hard to justify how you could claim you believe one thing and fight hard for it to the other side and then switch sides to fight hard for something that is diametrically opposed to what his initial fight was for.

 

Benedict Arnold or Judas comes to mind.

The love of money makes people do all kinds of things. I wonder which is more powerful, the love of money or the va-jay-jay? 

[gordong]

Find it very hard that any bills Official would leak this... they run a pretty tight ship in regards to leaks and releasing anything. Can't see them potentially getting black balled by the NFL to talk to a reporter.

 

   

[VaMilBill]

I truly believe this is being blown wayyyy out of proportion. The NfL ultimately came down to the right decision. This is a hit piece. 
 

Eric Wood was in the Dan Patrick show and said it best when he said that there should be a certain amount of grace shown in such a difficult circumstance. 
 

why are we looking to blame someone for the right decision being made? 

[Governor]

“The Lord himself could come down, and we were not going to play again,” an unnamed, high-ranking official from one of the teams told ESPN.
 

Definitely the Beane camp. Lol.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Governor

[Governor]

36 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

All Troy Vincent had to say was "We didn't realize the full seriousness of this unprecedented situation until we heard from all parties on site and that's why we eventually decided as a collective unit to suspend the game.  We should've done it sooner and not leaned so heavily on previous protocols."  People are willing to forgive but he for some reason decided to go full cover up mode which apparently included lying and throwing other people under the bus.

Yeah. This was a total layup and Vincent went out there and lied anyway. Now he and others will have to be terminated. As a society we have to restore accountability or we have nothing.

[Coach Tuesday]

42 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

All Troy Vincent had to say was "We didn't realize the full seriousness of this unprecedented situation until we heard from all parties on site and that's why we eventually decided as a collective unit to suspend the game.  We should've done it sooner and not leaned so heavily on previous protocols."  People are willing to forgive but he for some reason decided to go full cover up mode which apparently included lying and throwing other people under the bus.

Exactly.  It’s not the lie it’s the coverup.  The NFL makes this same unforced error over and over and over and over again to no end.

[StHustle]

7 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

It's kinda hard to justify how you could claim you believe one thing and fight hard for it to the other side and then switch sides to fight hard for something that is diametrically opposed to what his initial fight was for.

 

Benedict Arnold or Judas comes to mind.

Vincent got replaced then investigated by NFLPA for shady stuff he was doing. The league couldn’t wait to sign him on their side. 

[SectionC3]

7 hours ago, Last Guy on the Bench said:

Not saying it wasn't some Bills official or other, though I tend to doubt it, given the culture there. But that quote really doesn't have the vibe of Bean or McDermott anyway. I would be completely shocked if it were one of them. Can't see them sounding off to a reporter in that tone. Way out of character.

 

I disagree.  This reads like Brandon Beane all day long.  And, if it's Beane, good for him.  Somebody had to say something. 

 

A little nugget on Vincent.  He is the guy who broke JP Losman's leg.  And it was a hit job.  The older guys, particularly the defensive players, were tired of Losman running his mouth in camp.  So Vincent smoked him late and broke his leg because he's the guy who could get away with it.  When he (Vincent) was here he had the ambition of becoming a billionaire, and Ralph used to pull him from practice to take him to lunch.  

Edited January 10, 2023 by SectionC3

[Donuts and Doritos]

Troy consulted Beyonce on a response: "If you meant it then you should have put a name on it."

 

(Ya know the chorus will now be in your head all day. You're welcome).

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Donuts and Doritos

[CoudyBills]

The worst part is 5 minutes of thought probably leads to a statement from the NFL containing the last couple sentences of the article.  Who are the NFL PR people?

48 minutes ago, VaMilBill said:

I truly believe this is being blown wayyyy out of proportion. The NfL ultimately came down to the right decision. This is a hit piece. 
 

Eric Wood was in the Dan Patrick show and said it best when he said that there should be a certain amount of grace shown in such a difficult circumstance. 
 

why are we looking to blame someone for the right decision being made? 

ESPN v NFL pissing contest

[strive_for_five_guy]

Yes, Beane runs a tight ship.  But I think he wanted certain people to be called out publicly.  And while one could guess it was him or not, folks he’s calling out won’t know for sure, since he stayed anonymous.
 

A reminder of who Brandon Beane is at heart (competitive and hot-headed):

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2017/06/betting_on_himself_the_untold_story_of_brandon_beanes_unlikely_rise_to_buffalo_b.html

[boco357]

It's funny how Espn released the article after they got Cowboys Bucs game for Monday night.

[Big Turk]

37 minutes ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Yes, Beane runs a tight ship.  But I think he wanted certain people to be called out publicly.  And while one could guess it was him or not, folks he’s calling out won’t know for sure, since he stayed anonymous.
 

A reminder of who Brandon Beane is at heart (competitive and hot-headed):

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2017/06/betting_on_himself_the_untold_story_of_brandon_beanes_unlikely_rise_to_buffalo_b.html

 

Haha...five years later it doesn't seem so reckless I bet 

[TH3]

8 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Wow...some more in depth info regarding what actually happened from an "unknown" high ranking official on either the Bills or Bengals. My bet is the Bills.

 

Just absolutely trashes the NFL and Troy Vincent and says Dawn Aponte, the NFL representative at the game "held the line hard" even as Vincent tried to force her to make them resume play...

 

Also claimed they weren't going back out on the field to play even if the "Lord himself came down" and that the Bills and Bengals decided to stop playing that game not the NFL.

 

I'm not surprised. NFL is the king of doing one thing and then trying to gloss over it and make it appear they were doing the opposite once it happens. All they care about is the "appearance" of doing the right thing, not actually doing it.

 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/nfl-vs-espn-over-whether-025927564.html

 

I have a hard time getting worked up from people looking in the rear view mirror....it was an unprecedented situation and was resolved correctly after a short time period....the aggrievement industrial  complex lives on....

[QB Bills]

7 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

So Troy Vincent played for the Bills for 3 years from 2004 to 2006.  He is the player who broke JP Losman’s leg during his rookie year.

The whole bit about Troy Vincent being the wrong person in the wrong position at the wrong time, “he wants to be the hero but he will never take accountability”, sounds like someone who has formed an opinion about Troy Vincent from personal experience with him. - possibly while Vincent was in Buffalo and did not take responsibility for breaking the leg of a red-shirted player who was intended to be the team’s QB of the future.

 

I’m not sure who that would be, but probably someone who’s been around the Bills for 14-15 years.

 

Edit: I agree with you that would ABSOLUTELY not be McDermott who said that about the Lord coming down, pretty sure he would consider that. blasphemous.  Beane is also much too politically savvy to go “off the record” with stuff that might put him in an adversarial position with the NFL or disadvantage his team with the NFL, and it doesn’t sound like his word use.

It's that ol' rascal Russ Brandon again, isn't it?

 

 

[JerseyBills]

I've been saying this , all Vincent and the NFL had to say was that they initially wanted them to resume, this was uncharted waters etc and we ultimately decided that it was best to leave it in the teams hand for a final decision. Easy. They may have received some criticism but now they have egg on their face

 

I've been mad since Tues morning when the story broke. But all that matters is Damar is recovering with great speed and we move on to Miami 

[papazoid]

sounds to me like a Cincinnati source.....

 

#1- the person is very upset with the league and has an axe to grind. the league screwed the bengals with the possibilty of a coin flip losing home field to the ravens for their first playoff game. HC Taylor was on record of being very unhappy about these scenarios. bengals executive and competition comittee member katie blackburn  openly lobbied other owners to vote against those proposals. it was mcdermott who first said to Taylor "i need to be at the hospital with demar. i shouldn't be coaching". Taylor showed great sportsmanship and put up zero resistence. only to get the short end of the stick latter. 

 

#2- the league protected the bills interests in every way, they weren't upset.  i have never once known beane and mcdermott not taking the high road in delicate matters. just cant imagine them throwing Vincent under the bus.

 

here's what i think.....vincent told someone in the corporate officiating office to get the on field referees ready to restart. that was comunicated to those officials and the  broadcast booth rules referee. the rules guy told buck and aikman. vincent told no one directly from either team to get ready (cause he was only talking to Dawn Aponte). thats his wiggle room.  this will never get settled until the on site league official Dawn Aponte chimes in.

[BillsFanSD]

2 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

All Troy Vincent had to say was "We didn't realize the full seriousness of this unprecedented situation until we heard from all parties on site and that's why we eventually decided as a collective unit to suspend the game.  We should've done it sooner and not leaned so heavily on previous protocols."  People are willing to forgive but he for some reason decided to go full cover up mode which apparently included lying and throwing other people under the bus.

True, but I've worked around a bunch of highly-educated people would would trip over their own shoelaces exactly like Vincent did here.  It's not even technically a "rookie mistake" because I've seen very senior people do this.

[H2o]

Don't think that Troy had no contact with Goodell over the matter as well. His greasy little paws are in on this also. Good for Aponte. She showed true character, sensitivity, and class. I also appreciate Zach Taylor and the Bengals for how they handled the situation. No one has ever basically died on the field before and that is exactly what happened 8 days ago. To think that the Bills players/coaches/staff could have just shaken that off and continued is ridiculous. 

[freddyjj]

1 hour ago, papazoid said:

 

here's what i think.....vincent told someone in the corporate officiating office to get the on field referees ready to restart. that was comunicated to those officials and the  broadcast booth rules referee. the rules guy told buck and aikman. vincent told no one directly from either team to get ready (cause he was only talking to Dawn Aponte). thats his wiggle room.  this will never get settled until the on site league official Dawn Aponte chimes in.

I for one am glad that Dawn Aponte stood up for the coaches and players’ perspectives here.  Maybe being a woman and onsite made her more empathetic to the situation.  Struggling to see how Vincent - a former Union executive and player team rep while playing - would not have understood that the game couldn’t go on.  
 

Thank God things worked out the way they did. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by freddyjj

[nucci]

9 hours ago, Billznut said:

Hopefully they won’t be able to determine who the source was, especially if it’s a Bills source, which I think most likely it was. Beane was standing directly behind McDermott when he was doing the phone call with Aponte and Zac Taylor in the tunnel when they kept showing video of that on MNF that night. I don’t want the Bills to have to fear retribution from the league or Vincent because of them doing the right thing that night when the league was clearly pushing otherwise. 

Bengals refused to play as well

[Punching Bag]

9 hours ago, BigDingus said:

Didn't realize Troy Vincent was so disliked. 

 

So much for the idea that the NFLPA is looking out for the best interest of the players 🤨

 

Considering that he broke the leg of his own QB in practice "accidently" I have always found his decision making abilities questionable.

[zow2]

I think we all knew what happened from the NFL "command center" but it's interesting to see it in writing.

 

As for the Bengals, they were infuriated with the coin toss scenario, but it goes deeper.  The Bills were basically stripped of control of the #1 seed and bye.. Ok, that's a league decision they have to live with, but if they match up with KC it's at least at a neutral field.

Correct me if I'm wrong but if all results from week 18 remained the same, and if Cinci had beaten Buffalo on MNF, a potential divisional matchup would be in Cincinnati.  So if I'm the Bengals I'd still be fairly pissed off that playing the Bills would not at least be on a neutral field as well.

[Punching Bag]

9 hours ago, BillnutinHouston said:

 

I disagree.  The Bengals reps were in the hallway also, and it's the Bengals who are most upset at the league's  seeding proposal, thus (in my opinion) are the ones most likely to be sniping at the league at this point.

 

The "solution" of the NFL seemed to disfavor both the Bengals and Bills but hopefully if Bills feel that way they can return to the attitude "us against the world".

[Beck Water]

9 minutes ago, nucci said:

Bengals refused to play as well

 

Yeah, but no "Deep Throat" from the Bengals has been "off the record" contradicting Troy Vincent's "that would insensitive" story

'Course officially, no one from the Bills has done that either...

 

That would be the reason to fear "retribution" of a subtle sort

[dollars 2 donuts]

 

 

Oh my, the robot pieces of **** acting like robot pieces of **** only to express false incredulity at any insinuation that they might be robot pieces of ****.

 

 

(goes over notes)

 

 

Yep, they were who we thought they were regardless of the words that were coming out of their mouths contradicting the actions we all knew they were taking.

 

 

[clayboy54]

While I have zero doubt this is true, this is typical behavior from "diva" players or former players, and certainly amongst most uber-rich owners. Accountability is not something that these guys understand. They have been coddled since a very early age and learned that they can get away with anything they want. This is not to say that amongst the rank and file there aren't many very good souls. However, at the top they are mostly selfish, narcissistic a$$holes.

 

I am so glad that Josh is not one of those coddled pr!cks.

[muppy]

the truth of the matter is it didnt make any difference what Troy Vincent wanted on Monday night. You cannot hold a football game

 

with no players. We in the GDT were in agreement overall it was **** this game The Bills could  have walked off the field and  taken a

 

Forfeit and told the NFL to **** it and we'd have understood that 100%.

 

I am  grateful that the smarter classier heads prevailed and stopped the game. The Bengals in my book are the bungles no more.

 

as far as Troy Vincent is concerned He is so replaceable.

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by muppy

[Don Otreply]

9 hours ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Hey Troy, the truth will set you free!

Isn’t Troy Vincent the guy who broke his teams starting QBs leg with a cheap shot during a practice, Hell of a guy…, 

 

That and the NFLPA is basically the lap dog to the league/Owners, a spineless organization on its best day. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Don Otreply

[pocoboy]

9 hours ago, Billznut said:

Hopefully they won’t be able to determine who the source was, especially if it’s a Bills source, which I think most likely it was. Beane was standing directly behind McDermott when he was doing the phone call with Aponte and Zac Taylor in the tunnel when they kept showing video of that on MNF that night. I don’t want the Bills to have to fear retribution from the league or Vincent because of them doing the right thing that night when the league was clearly pushing otherwise. 

 

Yeah I feel like the whole story gets leaked to unsettle either BUF or CIN. ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in all things Chiefs.

[Matt_In_NH]

To my knowledge no nfl game has ever been stopped a game like this was.  And while this situation was “different” I am not surprised people assumed the game would resume because that is always what has happened.  Guys have been paralyzed, CPR in 1998..  The world has changed on things like this in a good way but 20 years ago the game probably continues.  I don’t hold it against anyone who was asking for the game to resume at first.   However the lying is ridiculous….just put a statement together that after further consideration and input from the teams we decided to not resume at this time.  

[BuffaloRebound]

This is 100% a Bengals source.  They got screwed over the most in this situation and Brown has always been a bit of an outcast amongst the other owners. But good for them, NFL’s hypocrisy needed to be called out.  A man dying on the field in front of a prime time audience is the League’s worst fear.  Not because a man died, but because it would devastating for business.  It’s the scene from Trading Places in the commodities pit where they’re wheeling the old billionaire off in a stretcher and he’s yelling to get the traders back in here.  More worried about they’re money than anything else.  

Edited January 10, 2023 by BuffaloRebound

[Scott7975]

Sounds about right.  They expected the teams to resume play.  No doubt in my mind.

[Don Otreply]

9 hours ago, Playoffs? said:

If that was a Bills member, really wish they could’ve waited until after the season… and then blow up the NFL!  
 

It’s not too far fetched to think that the NFL will go out of its way to find a way to screw the Bills now.  It’s like calling out the mob boss. 

The NFL / League is the Owners. 

 

it is pretty damn funny that some don’t seam to understand this, it’s the owners who are making / endorsing these decisions / actions. 

[cage]

On a separate, but aligned note on this topic.  As the situation was unfolding on MNF and the teams had left the field, I started switching around to various channels to see if they were covering it.  CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all had moved from their regular programs to cover the situation.  At this time on Monday night Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow are on, who are their highest drawing shows respectively. 

 

On the NFL Network.... replay of the Chiefs game from Sunday was playing.  There was a chyron scrolling across the bottom, but no specialty studio coverage