Damar Hamlin fallout: ESPN’s Joe Buck hits back at NFL’s denials about restarting play in Cincinnati

ESPN announcer Joe Buck has doubled down on his claim that the NFL wanted players to resume Monday’s game in Cincinnati following Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s sudden heart attack.

Troy Vincent, the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations and a former NFL defensive back who played three seasons in Buffalo, denied that claim to in a Monday night conference call with reporters: ‘I’m not sure where that came from.’

But speaking with the New York Post, Buck repeated his claim that an NFL representative told the network that play would resume after a five-minute warmup period.

The Buffalo Bills gather as an ambulance parks on the field while CPR is administered to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) after a play in the first quarter of the NFL Week 17 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills at Paycor Stadium in Downtown Cincinnati. The game was suspended with suspended in the first quarter after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) was taken away in an ambulance following a play

‘They said they’re going to give five minutes of a warm-up to these players to get ready,’ Buck told the Post.

Hamlin remains sedated in critical condition after suffering a sudden heart attack during Monday’s game in Cincinnati. He was hurt in the first quarter after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins.

Higgins’s shoulder impacted Hamlin’s chest on the play, but it’s difficult to say if that led to the Bills player’s heart attack. Following the collision, Hamlin stoop up but quickly wobbled before collapsing to the turf, where he lay motionless.

Troy Vincent (left), the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations and a former NFL defensive back who played three seasons in Buffalo, denied Buck’s claim to in a Monday night conference call with reporters: ‘I’m not sure where that came from.’ Hamlin (right) remains in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital

Hamlin remains sedated in critical condition after suffering a sudden heart attack during Monday’s game in Cincinnati. He was hurt in the first quarter after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. Higgins’s shoulder impacted Hamlin’s chest on the play, but it’s difficult to say if that led to the Bills player’s heart attack. Following the collision, Hamlin stoop up but quickly wobbled before collapsing to the turf, where he lay motionless

It was shortly thereafter, as concerned teammates gathered and an ambulance arrived, that Buck told ESPN’s audience that players would have five minutes to warm up before resuming play.

‘The two head coaches you can see got together,’ Buck said, referring to Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor and Buffalo’s Sean McDermott. ‘And they’ll have five minutes to warm up.’

Buck would later say to sideline reporter Lisa Salters: ‘Lisa, as we said, they’ve been given five minutes to quote unquote ‘get ready’ to go back to playing. That’s the word we get from the league and the word we get from down on the field, but nobody’s moving.’

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was seen warming up around this time.

Head coach Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills and head coach Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals speak during the suspension of their game following the injury of Damar Hamlin #3 of the Buffalo Bills at Paycor Stadium

Bengals coach Zac Taylor is being credited for taking his team off the field on Monday night

Despite Buck’s claim, Vincent insists the NFL never gave any such directive.

‘Frankly, there was no time period for the players to get warmed up,’ Vincent told reporters Monday. ‘Frankly, the only thing that we asked was that [referee] Shawn [Hochuli] communicate with both head coaches to make sure they had the proper time inside the locker room to discuss what they felt like was best.

‘So I’m not sure where that came from. Five-minute warmup never crossed my mind, personally. And I was the one … that was communicating with the Commissioner. We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. And that’s not a place that we should ever be in.’

Regardless of the NFL’s directives in the moment, it appears that it was Taylor and McDermott who decided to send their teams back to the locker room after the Bengals coach approached his Bills counterpart to discuss the situation.

‘Such a classy move by Taylor,’ tweeted Kentucky news anchor Paxton Boyd.

Hamlin’s family specifically tanked Taylor in a statement on Tuesday.

‘We want to thank Coach Taylor and the Bengals for everything they’ve done.’

Neither Taylor, McDermott or the players involved have addressed the media since Hamlin’s heart attack.

Hamlin’s family specifically tanked Taylor in a statement on Tuesday