What Took the NFL So Long?

In crisis, the league hesitates, and loses

AP photo

Sixty-five minutes. That’s how long it took Monday night for the NFL to discover its humanity. A player lay near death on the field, kept alive by the absolute heroics of the medical people at Paycor Stadium. For nearly 10 minutes, they performed CPR on Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin.

Should we keep playing?

Players wept and prayed and looked away. Fans caught in a horrible, communal moment respected the solemnity of the instant. A man lay on the field, fighting for his life. The NFL pondered. Faced with a genuine life-or-death situation, the league blinked.

Sixty-five minutes before the NFL postponed the game.

Maybe today, details will fill in the missing colors. Both head coaches, the Bengals Zac Taylor and Buffalo’s Sean McDermott, were seen in the stadium tunnel near the Bills locker room, talking into a cell phone, presumably to league officials. Nearly an hour had passed since Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins then promptly collapsed.

What did the coaches hear from the league? What were their reactions? We might never know.

We can tell time, though.

The medical folks were flawless, acting quickly and decisively. The players, who we forget sometimes are human beings, experienced the genuine horror of the moment. The whole country paused in dread. The league pondered. Or so it seemed.

What’s to ponder? Not the suddenly scrambled logistics of the late-season/playoff picture. Not the liability the league might face for resuming the game. Not the NFL’s image. Not protecting the brand or The Shield or whatever term you wish to associate with the country’s most powerful sports conglomerate.

This was not a fluid situation. Everyone knew what was happening. A man lies on a football field in danger of losing his life. You don’t need 65 minutes to decide what to do. Even a middling lawyer could tell a league official what should be written in a league statement about the matter.

Out of respect for Damar Hamlin, his family, the players and fans — out of respect for the game — we have decided to postpone the game indefinitely. The NFL extends its thoughts and prayers to Damar and his family.

That’s it. Easy. Instead, we got this:

Hamlin received immediate medical attention on the field by team and independent medical staff and local paramedics.

And this:

The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association which is in agreement with postponing the game.

Two of the statement’s four paragraphs, devoted to CYA imperatives and Shield protection.

Look at us, we did everything right. If you have issues with how this was handled, well, the players are in this, too.

The league made the right call, eventually. It was also the only call. That was obvious to everyone, from crying players to rational head coaches, to you and me. It was obvious the instant EMTs started compressing Damar Hamlin’s chest. No one else needed an hour to decide what was the right thing to do. Hamlin fell at 8:55 Monday night. The league called the game at approximately 10:01.

In the uncertainty, ESPN’s Joe Buck said he had information that the game would be delayed five minutes. The league denied that was ever an option, but the idea had to originate somewhere. Hint: It didn’t come from players or coaches.

The NFL is impressively efficient at just about everything it does. Its Super Bowl Week runs like a Swiss watch. The league has contingencies for everything. Except this time. The NFL reacted by doing what it normally does. It led with its corporate head, not its empathetic heart.

Now, then. . .

I’M TORN ABOUT HOW ESPN’S “TALENT’’ handled it. I realize no one could have been prepared for this, but the folks at the Worldwide Leader came off as flat-footed. Instead of information, we got grief. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but once it’s made clear, it’s time for journalism to take over.

Where was a doctor, any doctor, to speak to what occurred on the field? To offer theories about why it occurred? Label it as speculation, if you want, but it’s informed speculation. In one Tweet, Joe Danneman at Fox-19 got more valid info than a whole network.

Why was no one dispatched to UC Medical Center? Fans were there 30 minutes after the game was called, conducting a vigil.

What we got instead from ESPN was what we knew already. Tragic, shocking et cetera. Booger McFarland was totally overwhelmed by the moment. That’s understandable, but at some point, he had to get his act together and offer something besides grief. Man’s paid $2 mil a year.

We’re not asking for Cronkite-after-JFK here. Just a little more than what we got.

What say you?