ESPN pushes back on NFL's claim it never considered restarting Bills-Bengals game after Hamlin collapsed
From CNN’s Oliver Darcy
ESPN is sticking by its reporting that the NFL had initially planned to resume Monday's football game after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field...
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ESPN reported during Monday's telecast after Hamlin was taken off the field in an ambulance that the first quarter would resume after both teams were given a five-minute warm-up notice. ...
... ESPN, in a statement Wednesday, said it is sticking by its reporting.
"There was constant communication in real time between ESPN and league and game officials," the network said in a statement. "As a result of that, we reported what we were told in the moment and immediately updated fans as new information was learned. ..."
Joe Buck, ESPN's Monday Night Football announcer, told the New York Times in an interview Tuesday that he received reporting from John Parry, ESPN's officiating analyst. Buck said Parry "is in an open line of communication with the league office in New York."
"It is our obligation to give the information we are provided by the NFL. In real time as we get it," Buck told the Times. "That's our job at that time. That's all we can go with."
On Tuesday afternoon, the network said that there had been constant communication with the league and that “we reported what we were told in the moment.”
