Joe Buck is not changing his story. Despite a denial from Troy Vincent, who serves as the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, Buck says he was told that the league planned to give the players five minutes after Damar Hamlin was removed from the field to warm up before restarting the Monday Night Football contest between the Cincinnati Bengals and Hamlin’s Buffalo Bills.
He told Andrew Marchand of The New York Post that ESPN rules expert John Parry was in direct communication with the league office regarding the situation.
“They said they’re going to give five minutes of a warm-up to these players to get ready,” Buck said.
After Buck made that statement on air, Bengals coach Zac Taylor walked across the field to talk to Bills coach Sean McDermott. What was said is unknown, but the game never resumed. The NFL has announced that the game will not be resumed at all this week.
Joe Buck admits that most of the night is “kind of a blur” to him. He remembers that ESPN made the decision not to show medics administering CPR to Hamlin. He also remembers that he did not say much on air for long stretches of time. It is a decision he says was conscious and that he stands by.
“I think being quiet is OK,” he told Marchand. “Having it being reverent and quiet is OK because the stadium was stone cold quiet and the players were in utter shock.”
