{"id":182273,"date":"2023-01-10T04:55:59","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T04:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/innfl-vs-espn-over-whether-bills-bengals-would-resume-an-espn-reporter-breaks-the-tie\/"},"modified":"2023-01-10T04:55:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T04:55:59","slug":"innfl-vs-espn-over-whether-bills-bengals-would-resume-an-espn-reporter-breaks-the-tie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/innfl-vs-espn-over-whether-bills-bengals-would-resume-an-espn-reporter-breaks-the-tie\/","title":{"rendered":"InNFL vs. ESPN over whether Bills-Bengals would resume, an ESPN reporter breaks the tie"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Well, this is awkward.<\/p>\n
A week after ESPN tiptoed around the prospect of openly disputing the league’s line-in-the-sand position that no consideration was ever given to resuming the Week 17 game between the Bills and Bengals, ESPN.com has dropped a bombshell that bolsters ESPN’s position \u2014 and that takes specific aim at NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent.<\/p>\n
The item from Don Van Natta, Jr. characterizes league official Dawn Aponte, who was at the game, as a voice of reason who was being pushed by Vincent to proceed with the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord himself could come down, and we were not going to play again,\u201d an unnamed, high-ranking official from one of the teams told ESPN. \u201c[Aponte] was getting pressure. She was not getting consistent and direct messaging that she deserved to receive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aponte reportedly did not waver.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever crazy nonsense she was getting, man, she held it,\u201d the source told Van Natta regarding Aponte. \u201cShe held it strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Natta’s item makes it clear that the postponement of the game came not from the league office but from the site of the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe league did not cancel the game,\u201d the unnamed team official told Van Natta. \u201cThe Bills and the Bengals canceled the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there’s this, from the unnamed source: \u201cThe league screws this shit up because Troy Vincent screws this stuff up. That’s the wrong person in the wrong position at the absolute wrong time. . . . He wants to be the hero, but he will never take accountability. That’s him to a ‘T’.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Natta’s item also contains that ESPN officiating expert John Parry received word that the game would resume on Monday night from \u201ca senior NFL rules analyst inside the NFL command center.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NFL, in a statement to ESPN.com, was \u201cadamant that at no time did [the unspecified rules analyst] say anything related to a five-minute warm-up period to John Parry \u2026 John is just plain wrong. . . . We stand by Troy Vincent’s comments and strongly refute this characterization.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, as Joe Buck told Van Natta, the league never asked ESPN to put the five-minute toothpaste back in the tube.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on the air for another 40 minutes and no one corrected the idea that the game would resume,\u201d Buck told Van Natta. \u201cNo one.\u201d<\/p>\n
A source who reviewed the ESPN.com article predicted that the league will try to identify the unnamed team official who spoke to Van Natta. \u201cThere aren’t that many,\u201d the source said, \u201cand it’s only two teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this report likely will cause issues at 345 Park Avenue. Added the source: \u201cI know Troy well enough to know this will cause freaking shock waves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shock waves started last Monday, exacerbated by Vincent’s decision to characterize any suggestion of resuming play as \u201cinsensitive\u201d and \u201cridiculous,\u201d when it would have been perfectly reasonable to explain that the league has a standard protocol that initially was going to be deployed , until it became obvious that the situation called for a different approach.<\/p>\n
If that had happened, a huge mess would have been avoided.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getty Images Well, this is awkward. A week after ESPN tiptoed around the prospect of openly disputing the league’s line-in-the-sand position that no consideration was ever given to resuming the Week 17 game between the Bills and Bengals, ESPN.com has dropped a bombshell that bolsters ESPN’s position \u2014 and that takes specific aim at NFL …<\/p>\n