Hey, Parrot! Here is another column that will piss you off. (Re: Damar Hamlin)

HOLY SHIT!
The head of the NFLPA already debunked this!!

First…they don’t really know what the NFL was thinking. They didn’t have a lot of history to pull from - Chuck Hughes ( a white guy) died on the field and the game continued. Darryl Stingley was paralyzed in a game, but the game continued. Two incidents…one white guy dying after no hit, and one black guy paralyzed after a vicious hit. Then this…and that hit he took looked NASTY…not dirty…just a nasty hard hit. The NFL was in a tough situation, call the game and be blasted for it…hold off on calling the game until the coaches and players gave their input. And be blasted for it.

This guy was just looking for any reason to cry racism. I normally don’t go down rabbit holes like this, but this time I just couldn’t resist. I found this other nugget from this guy:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MrErnestOwens/status/1610114234720854016

Ernest Owens
@MrErnestOwens
For those who say “It’s not about race” – stop lying. If it was Tom Brady, we wouldn’t have to see CALL THE GAME trend worldwide before the NFL finally did. Period. Debate your cat. Damar Hamlin deserves better.
7:22 PM · Jan 2, 2023

Note how he chooses one of the most high-profile white NFL athletes for his comparison rather than a white athlete on the bills of comparable stature to Hamlin. Or, perhaps he should say how he thinks the NFL would have handled it had that been Lamar Jackson compared to if it had been Brady.

Fortunately, there are some sane voices of reason out there, even from those are normally included to take the social justice role. Here is one example:

But, playing devil’s advocate, the average person probably isn’t aware of the NFL’s protocol around addressing real-time, severe injuries. With concussions occurring all the time (close to 200 in 2021), the standard practice involves the player getting examined or carted off the field, giving the thumbs up to let everyone know they’re OK, and the game goes on. So, maybe there was a little uncertainty behind the scenes that took a little longer than we’d like to resolve.

*As a hardcore advocate for racial justice, I get it–we have to call out what’s not right in the moment it happens. But in the unfortunate case of Damar Hamlin, I don’t think this is one of those times. *

Tom Brady, Drew Brees and a host of other White athletes have shown their support and sent prayers. Players, Black and White, rallied around Hamlin, wept, prayed and refused to continue one of the most important games of some of their careers because one of their brothers was hurt. And in light of his injury, millions of dollars have been poured into his foundation in Pittsburgh to support children hit hardest by the pandemic.

I haven’t see that. By chance are you thinking of Troy Vincent:

Vincent is NFL executive Vice President of Football Operations

Either way, KC is right. It was a rapidly developing situation with no protocols in place. It is very easy to sit there as a arm-chair Monday morning quarterback and say that the NFL should have stopped the game ASAP. Overall, I would say that the situation regarding the game was handled prudently, given how it played out in real time.

Always claim racism…it gets the clicks.

That is who I meant.
For whatever reason I mistook him for a member of the NFLPA.

I personally think Goodell is a buffoon, but he got this right (so far).

I am sure some moron will find fault with this, but they have to do something.

I am not sure if there is a “right” answer, but in this case I am giving the NFL a lot of leeway to see what can be done.

The league has denied the 5-minute thing, but Joe Buck reported it in real time, based on conversations with league officials during the game. Not the biggest scandal in my opinion, but I think something close to that was probably discussed. The denials make it worse, spreading the controversy.

I am a Bills fan, so I will be biased. With that said, the Bills were in the position to get the number one seed by winning out.

I don’t know that I would automatically give ESPN the benefit of the doubt either here.

Joe Buck is a moron.
And, all he was reporting was the normal league protocols, not what was actually being discussed at the time.

Not disagreeing on Buck and his moronity, but it’s something he seems to have been told in real time. The league’s denial looks worse than what they likely did. They’re giving the story legs. They could just say the league official was telling him the typical procedure. Instead, they’re acting like it didn’t happen.

What is giving he story legs is Social Media and peoples inability to believe something other than what they were told initially.

This caught my eye

And if a seeding issue comes into play after the Week 18 stuff is done, then they will use either a random number generator to not count a game and make it even on all sides.

It would make the number of games even, but it’s going to piss somebody off. IF the random number generator throws out a Chiefs loss, the Bengals and the Bills are going to be pissed…especially if the game that is thrown out is the Bengals or Bills game. The Chiefs will be pissed off if the throw out a win.

I’m a Chiefs fan, but there is something that doesn’t feel “right” about this year. I don’t care if they are playing a world beating team such as the Bills or Bengals or a cellar dweller. It seems that the Chiefs have been playing down to teams like the Texans and the Bronco’s…almost losing both those games. IMO, they need to play like they are going up against a super bowl contender for every game so that when they DO face a good team, they are like a well oiled machine. I hate to say it, but even if the Chiefs get the bye, I don’t think they will make it. Mahomes is a great player, but he can only do so much. And our defense has been suspect all year.

Ya, there probably is not “right” answer.

I have a feeling they will turn it up in the playoffs, but I have nothing to base that on.

Maybe, but I think that they should make teams tremble when they play them. But with the Texans and Broncos, they seem hell bent on that “on any given Sunday” thing.

Just an observation, but if the NFL does decide to do that, I think they would need to only consider games against AFC opponents to be not counted. One tie- breaker involves conference opponents, so to be fair the number of intra-conference and inter-conference games would have to be the same for all three teams.

This should end the discussion about it, but I bet it won’t.

This raises another question. How could the NFL throw-out a Chiefs’ game against the Bengals or Bills if the intent is to balance the games?. For example, if the NFL threw out the Chiefs loss to the Bills, would the Chiefs record show no game against the Bills while the Bills record would still show a win against the Chiefs? How would that work?