It’s difficult to put into words, how to feel about this…

And we bring in Will Brinson, as we always do. Normally it's on a Monday, but it's not a Monday, it's a Tuesday. Feels like a Monday because yesterday we weren't working. But he joins us.

And first of all, Pick Six Podcast. Look, last night was one of the... I've never seen anything like it. And it's tough, man. It's not something you want to see. It's hard to even talk about it. It's hard to even get through and think about it, because you've never seen a game canceled like that. You've never seen some CPR on the field before.

At least I haven't. No, we were just talking to Dr. Salem Perak, who used to be at Duke and now is working for an orthopedic outfit in New Jersey. But we've talked to him about injuries and whatnot. This isn't even an injury, right? It's something that happened as a result of a football play.

But I hesitate to even call this about football. It's a freak occurrence. It could happen to somebody, you know, you can collide with somebody walking around a corner.

It seems, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, the doctor would know better, but like a decent way to describe it is sort of like a cardiac or like a blunt force cardiac trauma. That's what it is. And I'd say too, I mean, I think you're sort of not lost in it, but I mean, one of the things like T. Higgins, I feel bad for him because he's a good kid. He's the one who calls it. He just happened to be on the other end of it. And I can't imagine how he feels right now. And the truly sobering thing about it is that we've got an update from the family.

Yes. But it was basically like, we really appreciate the outpouring of support. And there's been no update from the NFL didn't update his health status. The family, DeMar Hamlin's family didn't update his health status. And the Cincinnati hospital hasn't updated his health status. And it's been, you know, it's 12, 21. I mean, you know, it's been 12 hours. And that's pretty concerning, I think, if you're following the situation.

I think all of it, all of it is concerning. And so, yeah, we haven't, we thought the hospital was going to have a press conference last night. They didn't. We thought there would be some sort of a statement this morning.

There hasn't been. I actually had just, before you mentioned it, I just read the statement from the family, which thanks everybody for their outpouring of support, not to mention emotional, but financial support to his charity. $4 million. Has it gone over $4 million already? The goal for his toy drive, which is in his, in Western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, the goal for his toy drive was to raise $2,500 this year. They've gone over $4 million.

It raised. So I, I mean, I tweeted out the link to it at some point last night. It was like, it had gotten to almost $500,000 in like 30 minutes of like people finding the link. And now it's passed over $4 million. They say 150,000 people have donated to it.

You know, you can't, no way to verify it because it's, you know, GoFundMe, but Christopher Caffrey's name was on there. And Andy Dalton's name was on there. Remember, Andy Dalton famously beat the Ravens to get the bills in the playoffs. I think it was in 2017, right?

Week 17 of the season. And, and, and to Bill's fans donated to Andy Dalton's charity, you know, of course, pay it back. It's just, look, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it's an insane situation. All right. So let me ask you a football element of this, because I mean, there is a football element of this, Will Brinson. There is. And like, it's a, it's a pretty, it's a pretty big football element. It is.

Yes. It, it, it affects, it directly impacts three teams. So what do they do if, do they not play it, which I'm okay with, do they declare it a tie?

I don't. Which I'm okay with. I mean, I'm okay with any result of this game. I'm okay with if they decide to say, Hey, the Bengals were leading seven to three.

Each team had a crack at it. And this is what happened and just declare the Bengals the winner. I'm okay with that too.

What do they do here? Okay. I'm going to, I'm going to give my opinion and of what's going to happen. And it is not the popular opinion. I do think that, and let me, let me state that I think that this will change. My opinion changes.

I think, I think the NFL's decision-making process is largely focused on what happens with Tamar Hamlin's health. Okay. Good. Obviously, you know, like this is a, and I'm not, I mean, I'm not, this is a reactionary league. Yes.

That is, that is for real. That's just how they operate. They are not, they're, you know, they're not going to, they're not going to make decisions based on the Bengals and bills game or the week 18 games until they know what has happened, what happens with the health of Tamar Hamlin. Now, I think that's a good thing, but I also think it's like how the NFL operates. And there, I think my opinion is that they will end up playing this game because this game is a really important game too.

And I understand that it's a really, I'm not, I'm not trying to be, but try to be disrespectful of anything. I just think that this game is important. Like you were talking about a $14 billion private business. You're talking about millions of jobs at stake. You're talking about millions of dollars at stake. And don't get me wrong. Like if, you know, they could, they could not play it.

The bylaws are, the bylaws are pretty weird about this. Roger Goodell could declare it the, you know, declare the cancellation of the game, but generally speaking they want to play their games. I mean, you still have the COVID year.

We played games on Wednesdays. Right. They, they made teams do things that were not necessarily fair from a competitive balance standpoint. Now, having said that, like, I do think that we saw last night too, the bills and the bingles, you know, like if the bills were like, we don't care, man, just make it seven, three, we're done.

Like that's on the table too. I, you know, that the response from those players and those teams will, will certainly matter. But, but I, I just think, and there's some people, people think that if there might not be league 18 games, which I, I don't know, maybe I, maybe I'm a hard, a heartless bastard and like, and I don't know, but I feel like the NFL, the way the NFL operates and the way the NFL has always operated.

And I realize this is unique circumstances. It's just that typically speaking, this is a league that presses on with its business. Like the only time we've ever seen NFL games postponed from a, I mean, what, 9-11?

9-11. I mean, they're like, they're like, there could be, there's like three hurricanes coming towards Miami. They're like, we'll see what happens. We'll move, we'll move the game. Screw the people who live in that town.

We will move the game to Oklahoma city. Yeah. I understand that.

I think if the game were canceled, I don't, I don't know that you can do it. And again, like you don't, you really don't want, like, it's just hard to talk about it from a football perspective, but it's like, like the bills are the current number one seed in the, in the AFC. I mean, the bills would really like to win a Superbowl, you know, not, not, they're not thinking about that right now. Right. Exactly. But eventually they are going to think about that. Like football is going to happen. And they're, and at that point, like if they, if they were to tie the game or lose the game after what, you know, seven minutes, whatever it was, um, then they would probably not be the number one seed and the chiefs would be the number one seed. And, you know, the chief, the chief should cancel their media availability, um, today, uh, out of respect for the situation.

Houston Texans canceled practice today. Yeah, sure. And like, that's good. Like everybody, everyone, this is, I mean, NFL network is only talking about Tamar Hamlin and not, and not from a football in a football way.

Right. Um, I know at this point, there is like only so much you can say about it because we just don't know. It's just very, that's the most concerning thing. Um, you know, but I think that at some point the, the NFL is like the NFL is going to continue to function. It's not a matter of, it's not a matter of, if it's a matter of when, and, and it's, and when, and when they do that, you know, the competitive balance, the nature of what the outcome of this game, and then the outcome of week 18 games mean for various teams in the playoff picture, it does affect many jobs.

It does affect a lot of financial things for major companies that are worth billions of dollars. And that's just the reality of it. Let me just ask you this and then we'll, uh, we'll break. Would the easiest thing to do other than declared a tie, declared a Bengals victory, um, with if they're going to resume the game with the easiest thing to do, uh, be to frankly, I don't even know how you ask the bills with a personal stake in this. I don't even know how you ask the bills to go and play a game in week 18, but assuming that they're able to do that is the easiest way to play a game Wednesday. I mean, like, well, yes, that's what they're not playing the game this week.

There's just no way they're going to do that. Um, but is the easiest thing to do to say, uh, bills you'll be in Cincinnati the following Saturday, and we're going to play the, that game in essentially in place of the first week of the playoffs and just shift everything else back a week. You have the week in between the super bowl and, uh, the conference championship games as a buffer, even though it's not intended to be used for that.

Is that the easiest thing to do? We talked about it too, during the COVID, COVID year, I believe we know where it's like, there, you were losing games. It's like, they, they, they did have that as they were like, you know, that is the word, you know, that is the fallback scenario.

I mean, yeah, maybe that's, maybe that's the way you do it. Um, I also think that, and look, I mean, in an ideal world, we get a great update about tomorrow Hamlin and that, you know, he, we get the the, the so-called, I think, um, Andrew said it well, it's like the thumbs up from the hospital, you know, when people leave the football field of stretchers and we see it a lot, like we were carted off crying, people are stretchered off, um, lots of terrifying scenes like that. You always see the thumbs up from the player, you know, that says, okay, like that's, you know, it's, this is not a good situation, but he is okay enough to give the thumbs up like that. And, and I think, by the way, that's how you ended up with that, um, the, Hey, let's start playing in five minutes type of thing, because it wasn't the NFL being heartless, you know, it was, it was the, it was the NFL, um, you know, just the NFL protocols probably just kicking in. Look, do we know that the NFL actually said, Hey, we got to fight. We'll, we'll give you guys five minutes to warm up then. Somebody told Joe Buck that they had five minutes and Joe Buck's taking heat for it. I think because Troy, Troy Vincent get on the conference call last night and said, that's, that's ridiculous.

We would never do that. It's like, just take, just take the L just, just admit, admit somebody screwed up. It's okay. You don't have to cover your ass on everything.

Nobody can admit that. What happened last night is going to be a part of the entire show. Okay. It is not going to be, I mean, first of all, it's, it's kind of hard to even talk about games and players and Christian McCaffrey going over a thousand yards rushing again. Uh, it's, it's hard to talk about all those things, but all those things happened and we are going to talk about them some, and we're going to make sure that everybody is aware as best we can. What's going on with DeMar Hamlin. We have not had another update. Uh, Cincinnati Bengals released a statement, which basically is just a show of support, thanking the medical professionals on hand for getting there quickly enough to execute life-saving measures.

So DeMar has a chance right now. He is still in critical condition. He's still sedated.

He is intubated at the university of Cincinnati medical center. Uh, let's bring back Will Brinson, senior NFL writer, CBS sports.com pick six podcast moderator. All right. Uh, Panthers real quick look good. If we're able to talk Panthers, I can do two shout outs real quick.

Give me both of them. Uh, one shout out to, uh, my good friend, Mark Chesson and his TCU horn frogs for making the college football playoff final. Um, pretty awesome. Incredible.

We can engage the college football. Yeah. And the two, make sure I get, yes. Shout out to, uh, Robert Williams, Brinson, Jr. Happy birthday, buddy.

Very nice. Nine years old. Wait, is he, maybe he's listening, uh, lady of Lords.

They actually pipe, uh, pipe the animal. Maybe he's got his iPad out and he's listening. Uh, I'm not going to lie. I don't think he, he has been, he has, he has, he has heard your show a lot.

He was a studio guest at one point, but I'm not sure he's a P1 listener. I think he might be all right. The, so the Panthers, look, they were in position and then Tom Brady happened. Uh, I'm not even, not even mad. The Panthers kept stringing us along long enough to make week 17 interesting. They nearly made week 18 interesting.

Uh, just your thoughts on how it all kind of ended. Uh, maybe give CJ Henderson some over the top safety help. Is that a fair question?

Yeah. I mean, it was, you know, every time you saw Tom Brady sort of, you know, drop like crank his arm back or crank back and get ready to throw, you're like, I'm going to see number 13, like running with no one near him. And sure enough, um, by Kevin's wide open on some, or just, just got separation on those deep balls.

They should have, you know, project some help. And, um, you know, I think it's like the, the papers probably had to win that game for Steve Wilkes to keep that job. It's my guess, but they probably had to win that game in week 18 for Steve Wilkes to get that job. I know if Jim Harbaugh is thrown any interest in Carolina, whether that's no way Michigan, Michigan's a better job than the Panthers job. No, he wants to go to the NFL.

I understand. No. If you think about the Panthers job and like what Jim Harbaugh has done, like the Panthers are not that, not that dissimilar from that Niners team that he took over back in 2011, a bunch of young pieces on defense.

Sure. Um, you know, uh, underperforming offense, quarterback issues, like he's a quarterback whisperer. He flipped Alex Smith's career around. Um, you see what he's done in Michigan. I think that you could, um, I think, I think you could, uh, I don't think it's that crazy now.

I also don't think it's crazy that he would, um, feign interest in Carolina in order to drive his price up and interest up elsewhere. But, but I, but I do think that, and you think Tom Brady's probably leaving the division division, like that division stinks, um, the division stinks with Tom Brady in it. Well, that's right.

Correct. Um, and yeah, I mean, Sarah, but I think that you could see, but I don't think, I just don't think it's crazy to suggest that Harbaugh could see that as a possibility to like, you look at it sort of like the Atlantic division with Clemson, you know, people like, Oh, close almost go to the sec. It's like, well, close. There's a pretty good pathway to the college football playoff right now.

They're not sure they definitely want to like, go make life harder on themselves. Uh, so I think that, I think that you could, Jim Harbaugh would look at that and say, wow, this is actually a really good opportunity. And, and, and I think David Tepper, if Harbaugh was interested, David Tepper would definitely be interested because he's a shiny object.

Yes, correct. And he would give him just complete control of everything. He's a moth drawn to light as my old friend, Alec Campbell used to say that that's what David Tepper is. It's like, Oh, there's a light. Well, let me, let me just sparkly.

Let me go there. Uh, Sam Darnell played pretty well. Ultimately though, Sam Darnold is exactly who Sam Darnold is. And, uh, their offensive philosophy all year long was let's try not to screw this up, which is, I don't know if that's the right way to do it all the time.

It is the right way to do it. If you can enforce yourself on the ground, uh, if you can make you control the game on the ground, which I mean, at times Carolina did, uh, in this, in this run, but when they didn't, the way they approached the game was I think, counterproductive to winning. Uh, but they had a lead, they had a 21 point lead and then, uh, they're of all things, their defense let them down in the end. So it's, uh, it is what it is. Um, are the, are the Buccaneers sneaky, dangerous because of Tom Brady or look, they're just not good.

Um, they could be both. I think, you know, I, I said, I would say for several weeks now that, um, having it laughed at on the podcast once a week for suggesting that the Buccaneers could be a problem in the NFC if they get in the playoffs and they're in and they're going to host a game probably gets Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott home game. I think you look at the NFC and you say, all right, Jalen hurts.

This injury is certainly worth wondering about because he hadn't been able to play the last two weeks. And it feels like maybe the, um, maybe the, the, the, the Eagles are being a little bit like less, uh, earnest with us and about, but maybe it's a little more serious than they've led on. Um, the Vikings are 11 and one score games and just got torched by the Packers. Right. You have the, um, the 49ers who have, uh, the last, last draft pick of the entire draft, a rookie quarterback.

And that's that look, you can say what you want about Brock party. I think he's played great, but it's, it's the NFL playoffs. Right. Then you have the bucks at four Cowboys at five giants at six, and then maybe the Packers lines are Seahawks at seven. So to suggest that it's just, this is this impossible pathway to navigate for Thomas Edward Brady.

The 15th is just an outrageous claim. Like this is a guy that has seven Superbowls. He can, he can, you don't think he can turn it.

You don't think he can, you don't think he sees the pathway and he can just flip the switch a little bit. Cause they flipped a little bit on Sunday. I'll tell you, he was winging the baby. Mike Evans hadn't scored since week four. Right. And Mike Evans scored three times in week 17 and looked like it just looked like that connection. It looked like the connection we'd seen in years past. I'm just, I'm just saying safety help over the top for CJ Henderson might've been a good idea.