Last Monday, Jan. 2, the NFL faced the unprecedented; second-year Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed to the ground after sustaining a hard hit to the ribs from Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest, and was given CPR on the field for more than ten minutes before he was rushed to the UC Health Center. Players from both teams were visibly distraught, and after nearly an hour of delay, the game was officially postponed.
In the following days, the football world was on edge, waiting for any updates on Hamlin’s condition. Fans and players of all teams came together to offer their thoughts and prayers for Hamlin in a very rare moment of unity, with the slogan “Pray for Damar” posted across social media and sports stadiums. As the American sports world learned of Hamlin’s character and generosity towards his community, many decided to help in his cause. Hamlin’s foundation, Chasing M’s, had set up a GoFundMe, raising money for a toy drive for kids in need during the holidays. In less than five days, the original goal of $2,500 was shattered, with over $7,000,000 pouring in from over 125,000 donors. During the games this past weekend, players and teams organized to show their support for Hamlin, with players wearing the slogan “Love for Damar” on t-shirts, and teams putting the slogan across their stadiums.
From the NFL, however, came a level of disorganization and inability to follow contingency plans that some thought was laughable for a multi-billion dollar league. The policy for canceled games was under section A28 of the NFL rulebook, stating:
“When necessary, playoff tiebreakers shall be calculated according to per game average for all teams.”
In short, it meant that the team with the higher win percentage was the higher seed, however, this was not put into practice. Under the new policy, the Cincinnati Bengals, who had previously been in contention for the first seed in the AFC, were officially locked in as the three seed, and their home field advantage was to be potentially decided by a coin flip. This drew criticism from team officials across the league, especially from the Bengals organization.
“So we not following the rules anymore?” tweeted Bengals running back Joe Mixon in response to the rule change.”
While Hamlin continues to make his recovery in the hospital, league wide support for him remains unchanged. The NFL, on the other hand, continues to be in the spotlight for their handling of players’ injuries, and now, their rules.