2022 NFL regular season through Super Bowl LVII

[GrayJ12]

The closest thing that I could think of is Hank Gathers collapsing in the 1990 WCC tournament; different situations, but the scene very harrowing.

 

And I'll second what @infrared41 said - the EMTs did a great job last night with this situation. This is probably the most bleak I've felt as a sports fan since Newman's crash at the Daytona 500 a few years ago ...

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, GrayJ12 said:

The closest thing that I could think of is Hank Gathers collapsing in the 1990 WCC tournament; different situations, but the scene very harrowing.

 

The comparison that came to mind for me is Chuck Hughes, a Lions wide receiver who collapsed at the tail end of a 1971 game against the Bears at Tiger Stadium. Hughes, like Gathers, died of his heart problem.  The radio call is here.  The announcers immediately grasp that something serious is wrong.  They initially believe that it is a neck injury, though the sight of doctors pumping Hughes's chest gives them a clue about the real nature of the problem.  After Hughes is taken from the field on a stretcher, the game's final minute is played out before a stunned crowd of more than 50,000.

[Cujo]

I had no idea, but the same thing happened to Chris Pronger. Survived and came back to have a great career. Hope the same applies to Hamlin.

 

 

 

[Sport]

12 minutes ago, Cujo said:

I had no idea, but the same thing happened to Chris Pronger. Survived and came back to have a great career. Hope the same applies to Hamlin.

 

 

 

 

 

The craziest thing is he played in the next game. 

[TrueYankee26]

47 minutes ago, Cujo said:

I had no idea, but the same thing happened to Chris Pronger. Survived and came back to have a great career. Hope the same applies to Hamlin.

 

 

 

I also had flashbacks to Christian Eriksen collapsing 2 summers ago during Euro 2020.

 

Like Pronger thankfully he survived. He is still playing soccer for MUFC as well as Denmark

 

 

[Sport]

I was not at the game, but I was downtown last night. Surreal experience leaving the bar and trying to get home before the rush. Very quiet, eerie, nobody really knew what to do. People I know at the game said it was terrifying. 

 

It's really weird the relationship Bills and Bengals fans have developed since the Bengals clinched the playoffs for them in 2017. I can't think of any other fanbase friendships in sports quite like it. We're going to be linked for a very long time. 

 

As far as what to do about the game - who even cares? Just don't play it and treat it like a tie. 

[infrared41]

Saw variations of this a lot on Twitter last night. Figured I'd share it here. It's not a bad idea.

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

15 minutes ago, Sport said:

As far as what to do about the game - who even cares? Just don't play it and treat it like a tie. 

 

We say "who cares?" now, but sports fans have very short memories. We've witnessed a lot of terrible actions done by the NFL, its players and its owners, and we still watch.

 

Last night and today, no one wants to talk about football. In a month, people will be complaining about KC in the Super Bowl yet again and how they got there. The Hamlin collapse will feel a million years away.

 

I'm not saying any of that is humane, I'm just saying it's going to happen.

 

I like the suggestion to remove the week break between the championship games and Super Bowl, give all teams other than Cincinnati and Buffalo the week off, and replay Bills/Bengals on Sunday. It feels like the only way to have a modicum of schedule integrity.

 

Of course, that's assuming Hamlin pulls through. If anything changes, I don't know what to do. And to be honest, I'm thrilled it's not my job to figure it out.

[FiddySicks]

Yeah there’s a lot of “it’s too soon” talk when it comes to figuring this out, and that’s totally understandable. But truth is they’ve got to move rather quickly to solve this or it could cause some major issues. It’s going to be very difficult to find a balance between respecting the severity of this situation and solving the very real scheduling issue they currently have. And to make matters worse, they have to find a solution to this very quickly. Much like a lot of the NFL’s problems, it’s not an enviable position to be in. 

[The_Admiral]

I bet -- heavy emphasis on bet -- the NFL will find a way to get the game in, whether or not they should.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Isn't counting the game as a draw the easiest solution? 

[Brave-Bird 08]

Multiple things I've reflected on this morning. To be honest, I even had to turn off ESPN because while I appreciate the raw, emotional responses full of compassion, a lot of the talk has been about "laying your life on the line" when you play football. Yes, football is extremely violent, there are many times I have to personally reconcile my fandom, but in this situation this isn't some "last straw" for football. 

 

Cardiac arrest can be caused by blunt force to the chest, and if that was the case, yes, this was a football-related injury -- and a horrific one. Obviously many here citing commotio cordis. It's also possible it was cardiac arrest from simple exertion and just so happened to be a coincidence he had made a tackle and been hit near the sternum just before it occurred. 

 

In Case A or Case B, it's either an extremely, extremely rare freak accident (the Lions player in 1970s had a pre-existing heart condition and had a heart attack), or if it's simply cardiac arrest because of an underlying condition, it could happen to any athlete in any sport -- even you on a morning jog. Of course, there is also a possibility there was trauma we don't know about and this is something that could be tied back to the forces of football, but we just don't know right now. 

 

I think the shock and gravity of what happened has created a lot of charged responses, this is not the time for that. I used to work sidelines at high school games and witnessed a kid collapse and had to get chest compressions after coming off the field from punt team -- he was literally mid sentence and then just dropped face first. Luckily, he was revived by medical personnel within 20 seconds and was alert and talking when loaded onto an ambulance, and they decided to finish the game. 

 

This is the worst of the worst when it comes to sports injuries b/c not only did he need CPR, but he could not give the thumbs up when taken off. 

 

IDK, I didn't want to make a long-winded post but I have. I just hope he's okay, and hope anyone who was on the field with him during this can cope with the trauma. Even if he comes out of this alright, it's going to be difficult for all of the players and personnel who had to go through that.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Isn't counting the game as a draw the easiest solution? 

 

Assuming Buffalo and KC win next week, either a tie or a no contest would provide KC the #1 seed, as KC would have a slightly higher win percentage (82% to 81.25%).

 

A tie or no contest would also give Cincinnati the division title, as even with a win next week, Baltimore wouldn't be able to catch Cincinnati on win percentage (68.75% to 64.7%).

 

So depends on your definition of "easiest." For schedule purposes? Yes, absolutely. But to allow home field advantages and playoff seeding to be determined competitively? No, there's no easy answer there.

 

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

20 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

29 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Isn't counting the game as a draw the easiest solution? 

 

Assuming Buffalo and KC win next week, either a tie or a no contest would provide KC the #1 seed, as KC would have a slightly higher win percentage (82% to 81.25%).

 

A tie or no contest would also give Cincinnati the division title, as even with a win next week, Baltimore wouldn't be able to catch Cincinnati on win percentage (68.75% to 64.7%).

 

So depends on your definition of "easiest." For schedule purposes? Yes, absolutely. But to allow home field advantages and playoff seeding to be determined competitively? No, there's no easy answer there.

 

I see.  I was just thinking that, because the game was still very early and the score was still so close, a draw is a fair representation. Whereas, if it had been a 20-point difference in the second half, then that option would not suggest itself.

As a side point, let's note that a tie is different to a no-contest, in that a tie is figured in the percentages as half of a win and half of a loss.  The winning percentages that you gave are the ones that the teams would have if the postponed game were not replayed; still, the impacts on the four teams involved are unchanged even if the winning percentages are figured with a tie rather than with a no-contest.

 

[infrared41]

27 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Assuming Buffalo and KC win next week, either a tie or a no contest would provide KC the #1 seed, as KC would have a slightly higher win percentage (82% to 81.25%).

 

A tie or no contest would also give Cincinnati the division title, as even with a win next week, Baltimore wouldn't be able to catch Cincinnati on win percentage (68.75% to 64.7%).

 

So depends on your definition of "easiest." For schedule purposes? Yes, absolutely. But to allow home field advantages and playoff seeding to be determined competitively? No, there's no easy answer there.

 

 

 

Short of moving everything back a week, I don't see a way out of this for the NFL. Anything else is the "this is the best bad idea we have" scene from Argo.

[ManillaToad]

 

[TBGKon]

So essentially, let Week 18 play out and see if continuing the BUF-CIN game is even necessary.  Probably the most ideal outcome under these unprecedented circumstances.

[rams80]

2 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Assuming Buffalo and KC win next week, either a tie or a no contest would provide KC the #1 seed, as KC would have a slightly higher win percentage (82% to 81.25%).

 

A tie or no contest would also give Cincinnati the division title, as even with a win next week, Baltimore wouldn't be able to catch Cincinnati on win percentage (68.75% to 64.7%).

 

So depends on your definition of "easiest." For schedule purposes? Yes, absolutely. But to allow home field advantages and playoff seeding to be determined competitively? No, there's no easy answer there.

 

 

So KC has a bye.  Small sample size so far and all that, but only 1 bye team out of 4 made the Super Bowl (and both bye teams got knocked out in the divisional round last year).   Such is life.

 

Whatever sympathy I have for the Ravens’ plight is quite tempered by the reality that they blew a 4th Quarter lead at home Sunday night; they did this to themselves.

[infrared41]

NFL gonna NFL.

 

 

[Dilbert]

At this point play out week 18, then if necessary move everything up a week to replay the game for "week 19" and eliminate the bye before the Super Bowl.