Sports

ESPN’s Statement About 5-Minute Warmup Controversy Causes More Confusion

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The NFL caught some flack after initial reports suggested the league was giving the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals just five minutes before resuming play after the scary incident.

Shortly after the league called off the game for the evening (and now this week), the NFL very quickly denied reports they were trying to rush players back onto the field.

Now, ESPN releases a statement about the situation, as they were broadcasting the game.

Joe Buck was consistently stating that the teams were going to be given a five-minute warmup period before resuming play. Even though players on both teams looked incredibly distraught. According to Jeff Howe, ESPN claims they were in constant communication with the league throughout the entire process. If that’s the case, then Buck was possibly regurgitating what the league was telling him during the broadcast.

That would directly negate anything Troy Vincent, a high-ranking NFL representative, said when he denied the NFL was trying to continue the game after a very short time frame. Even so, ESPN doesn’t exactly come out and say it outright.

So, it’s hard to tell if the NFL was actually trying to push the game forward without reading the room, or not. Especially considering the league could only gain information given to them by the officials. At the very least, medical staff in stadiums are highly trained for these exact situations we witnessed on Monday night, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“The gathering, called the ’60 Minute Meeting,’ is held an hour before kickoff and is mandatory at every NFL game. It specifically deals with what to do if there is a cardiac arrest event on the field, which is what happened with Hamlin in the first quarter of the Bills’ nationally televised game against the Bengals.”

However, the controversy remains and fans aren’t happy with the NFL after ESPN’s statement. Meanwhile, some believe decisions were made before realizing exactly what was going on. Then they were changed as more information came to light.

This certainly could be the case.

Maybe the league will have a response to ESPN’s statement.

This seems to be an ongoing controversy. In the meantime, we really just hope for nothing but the best for Damar Hamlin. Keep an eye out for any more updates as everyone hopes to hear good news as soon as possible.