Great Progress With Damar Hamlin (Hour 1)

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If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. No one's more locked into the NFL than First and Pod. Why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization, bad offensive coaching, and then went and played behind three high level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way?

Well because it just it doesn't really happen that often anymore. Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street, welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS number to jump on in 855-212-4227, you could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We got a lot to do today obviously the hot take hickey is producing this extravaganza and we'll be here all the way up until 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific, but we got to start off with the best news obviously that you're going to hear today and that was the news that we got a few hours ago that Damar Hamlin made remarkable progress he is now awake he's been able to communicate via writing he is still critically ill but it appears that the neurologically he's still a neurologically intact and his lungs continue to heal and making steady progress so that is the latest on Damar Hamlin obviously from where we were on Monday night this is phenomenal news now we're gonna have Dr. Brandon Erickson join us at 6 20 p.m. Eastern so in 20 minutes from now to answer a few questions but when you heard the story and we'll play you some audio as the doctors did speak today Josh Allen did speak Sean McDermott and then also T Higgins as well when you heard the these the audio and you saw the series of tweets when the doctors were holding a press conference when they were discussing when he did open his eyes and was able to communicate via writing right now and he was able to ask via writing did the team win the game or not that is just it really just made you feel so good that he was able to do something like that and also you hear some of the things as well where more importantly he's squeezing the hands of his loved ones and the fact that his eyes are open right now and also neurologically seems to be intact and his lungs are continuing to heal and you just keep on hearing positive reports after positive reports it is just absolutely awesome for clearly what is a awful situation and a scary horrible situation I just continue to hope day by day we keep on getting these reports that day by day just keeps on getting a little bit better a little bit better a little bit better and then we eventually get to see one day Damar Hamlin walk out of that hospital as we just continue to hear that he's making steady progress so clearly this has been an emotional week there has not been a lot of positivity this week in terms of the reporting but really in the last 24 hours or so we have now seen an uptick and some of that positivity be there clearly there has been a lot of positivity around the situation in terms of what people have done the millions and millions of dollars that have been donated to his charity everyone that has been there to support not only the Buffalo Bills but the Cincinnati Bengals and you've really seen the strength of the NFL community rally together in a time like this because what occurred on Monday was an absolute nightmare it's everyone's worst fear it's something that I couldn't even have imagined you know some of the risk that you do partake when you go through the sport of football but you never would have thought that a player would have needed CPR on the field and that's another thing the all the medical professionals clearly from the people in the hospital but right away the people that were on the field first responding they saved his life and and those people all involved need to be praised for what they were doing now I know some will say that it's their jobs but the way that they were able to act so quickly and the way that they were literally able to save his life all that have been involved in in the response process and and hopefully the eventual full recovery process just absolute salute to everyone that is involved and once again I just had a smile on my face all throughout the day when I was I was going to get my lunch and I see all these breaking news reports that he was awake and all these reports that he was able to write and communicate and and ask you know who won the game and things like that and then hear about some of the way that people have been responding to this story and that his loved ones have been with them and he's been able to squeeze their hand and and and obviously continue to make progress just when you kept on hearing those stories throughout the day and then eventually hear the doctor speak and then the Buffalo Bill speak as well it is encouraging and it's it's so awesome just to finally hear some good news where now you know that he's awake and where the communication process of him is at and there's still a long ways to go obviously still in critical condition when you look at everything that has transpired this is for what has been an awful situation the best that it could probably be at I would imagine at this point and the fact that once again he is neurologically intact or it appears to be and that they just keep on saying he's making steady progress it just it's awesome to hear those things and and to hear those words being said by not only the Buffalo Bills his family and then medical officials as well let's hear from and we'll play some sound right out of the gate this is dr. Timothy Pritz who says Damar Hamlin is the winner in life when Damar Hamlin wrote to the doctors and him and and and and the family and asked who won the football game obviously on Monday night when he did awake the bear phase one of our partners you know when when he asked did we win the answer is yes you know Damar you won you've won the game of life and that's probably the most important thing out of this and we really need to keep him at the center of everything else that's going on and we really want to ensure a good outcome for you what a powerful quote that is that yes Damar you won you're the winner in life and now he continues to hopefully get healthier day by day but to find out these stories in the last 72 hours of the type of person he is and the type of person that he will continue to be obviously ever since this did unfolded and you never want to find out these stories in the way that we had to find them out but he has been clearly talked about more than anybody since Monday as he should be and you get to see stories like what Ty Dunn did author on the on in July of 2021 after getting drafted and you just hear about his background and his story and how he always just seems to have a positive attitude and a positive approach in life and he's always willing to help others so there's no doubt about it that Damar Hamlin when we get this news today that you finally have some real positive things and you know that he did awake and that was last night when when he was able to open his eyes it just makes you feel really good from the horrible scene and the scene that made everyone panic that we did see on Monday in Cincinnati we'll play you one more quote here from dr. Timothy Pritz he says Damar Hamlin has progressed very well in the past 24 hours we would like to share that there has been substantial improvement in his condition over the past 24 hours we had significant concern about him after the injury after the event that happened on the field but he is making substantial progress as of this morning he is beginning to awaken and it appears that his neurological condition in function is intact it's you hear that after all we've talked about through this week and you hear that he's moving both his hands and feet as well all you could just say is excellent excellent excellent news let's hear from two players and a coach that were involved in in the situation on Monday night T Higgins who was the player that had the collision with Damar Hamlin and anyone that is trying to put any blame on T Higgins you're just a terrible person and that should not be the way that we approach this T Higgins did nothing wrong and you got to think about T Higgins too in this situation because he's playing football and the two of them will obviously forever in in just an unfortunate way be linked but you want to make sure that T Higgins is in a good headspace and T Higgins is also getting the support and the the therapy that he will probably need as well since he was involved in this but I have a tremendous amount of respect for T Higgins clearly he is a phenomenal football player but as we've been discussing since Monday not only do you think about Damar Hamlin and not only do you think about the Buffalo Bills but you also think of T Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals and we think about all players involved in the NFL because this could have been anybody and that's the scary part of this and you hear players families talk and players families this weekend they're gonna go see their loved ones go out on a football field and what happened on Monday is everyone's greatest fear that could happen to their loved one while playing the game this is T Higgins on his initial reaction to Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field and it was the right decision to not continue that game because you couldn't continue that game and there was no way with everyone that was involved and with what everyone just saw there was no way that Zach Taylor nor Sean McDermott were going to allow their players to continue that game and what you talk about crediting people in in situations that are tough and situations that there's no playbook for the the job that Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor did and the leadership that they displayed in as tough as the circumstances you could go through a circumstance that you can't even imagine really admirable what those two men did those two coaches did and two of the better leaders obviously in the NFL let's listen to Josh Allen he says that Damar Hamlin's father's speech where he did talk to the team has the guys ready to play on Sunday Mario talking to us as a team and the things that he he kind of told us and well he didn't tell us he demanded us you know and you can't not honor his his request to go out there and charge forward you know to the best of our abilities and obviously we'll be playing with I guess less heavy hearts now knowing that you know today's news was a lot a lot of tears of joy I'll tell you that but to know that that's that's what he wants that's what his dad wants I think guys are excited to get out there and you were curious and no decision would have been the wrong decision but you were just curious at the Buffalo Bills were going to want to play this weekend and if they didn't it would not have faulted them for a second I think we all could have understood that decision as they do have a game up against the Patriots Sunday at one o'clock but a lot of Bills players when you've heard some of the reporting in the last 24 hours or so and obviously it's gotten better and better just in terms of the news that we got about the status of Damar Hamlin but they've said when the dad Damar Hamlin's dad spoke to the team it was very powerful and then you also get the news that he has made remarkable progress and he's awake and he's been able to communicate via writing and even though he's still critically ill he appears neurologically intact and his lungs continue to heal and he's making steady progress not that this is over but it lifts a massive weight off a lot of people's shoulders where for two days or so you just thought the worse even though we were all praying and hoping for the best and to finally get some tangible good news I'll sound like a broken a broken record player but I'll say it again it was just awesome when you got that news today let's hear from the Bills head coach Sean McDermott he says the Bills as a team decided not to resume the game on Monday night this is the Bills coach after Damar got loaded into the ambulance I remember thinking to myself we're gonna need some time we being the Bills at least and we're so conditioned to a player is taken off the field who is injured to right to going right back into you know that mode and and so I said to Sean Smith I said hey we're gonna need some some time here and again he was he was tremendous and then the time the way things unfolded from from there was really we were in the front of our locker room not quite out in the hallway at that point but having conversations amongst ourselves I think I went in and addressed the team and just felt like overall it was going to be really hard to put them back out there but I wanted to give them the option to go back out there if they wanted to and and led by Josh and a couple of the other captains they decided not to go back out there and show McDermott he knew they weren't gonna return but he wanted to do right by his players and he did right by his players because you in a situation like that you need a leader and you also have to rely on your guys and clearly Sean McDermott did that and I would be shocked I know that the AP is reporting that they're never going to resume that Bills Bengals game this year and then you can get into all the trivial stuff the scheduling and and what happens with the playoff race but just to see the way that both Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor combined handled that just terrible situation on Monday night I said it before I'll say it again it was admirable the leadership they displayed and then also the players as well in a moment like that and ultimately that might the right call was made so good news on Tamar Hamlin as day by day we hope we keep on getting better and better news and once again we wish him and his family and all involved nothing but the best we will take a break here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio when we come on back Brandon Erickson is a doctor and he also played football at Notre Dame he's going to join us on the other side just got a few medical questions from some of the things that we are hearing today in the positive news on this Thursday about Tamar Hamlin Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pod why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pod why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pod why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast you're listening to the Zach Gelb show it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio the best news you'll get all day Damar Hamlin has made remarkable progress he's awake he's been able to communicate via writing he is still critically ill but he appears neurologically intact lungs continue to heal and he's making steady progress have a few questions in the medical world so we will bring on dr. Brandon Erickson right now doc I do appreciate the time thank you for carving out a few minutes for us no problem at all what a what an unfortunate and crazy couple of days it's been it has and I'm surprised and obviously it's awesome news what we got today but just your medical opinion on this it's remarkable that we have encouraging reports now on this Thursday it isn't you know if you think about what happened a couple of days ago on Monday night obviously we saw him go down we assume that wasn't a rhythm you have a tarp meeting something happened but the heart stopped beating or beaten in a kind of a funny way and so when that happens kind of in the field or not in the hospital setting immediately guys start CPR they put that electrical defibrillator device on people you know seeing these things called eighties all around and those are basically little defibrillators that actually are very useful and can help a lot in these situations and so they were able to kind of get his heart back into a regular rhythm on the field they had to get it back again when they got to the hospital and they intentionally then cooled him down and put him under sedation and intubated him because what they want to do is when you have an injury like that where you're not pumping blood to all of your vital organs what you want to do is cool the organs down so they have a much lower need for oxygen so there's no death that happens in the tissues and then you slowly rewarm them so today is about the right day that we should have started hearing news is really encouraging what we've heard so far so we also hear that he's still critically ill but he appears to be neurologically intact can you just tell us exactly what that means as we just keep on hearing that this is awesome news today yeah so the critically ill thing he's certainly in the intensive care unit and when you have to be intubated and you have to be sedated you know there's other side effects that can happen from that and so he hasn't completely come out of the woods yet he's still intubated so he's not breathing on his own so what they'll do over the next couple of days is they'll start to run these breathing trials on him and see if he can start breathing on his own one meeting his heart and lungs are working okay and two that he's awake and alert enough to know that he's supposed to breathe on his own you know breathing something that we just do naturally but if you have a traumatic injury sometimes that natural rhythm can get messed up a little bit so you have to make sure that he can do that on his own and then when he finally does get extubated or meeting the tube gets taken out of his throat he's awake then they're gonna have to run a whole battery of tests on him so they you know they said today he was nerve-wracking attack which is which is excellent and by that they mean that his kind of gross motor skills are intact so he could respond to commands he was moving his hands and feet and things like that but we have to make sure that when he does wake up that all the other stuff is okay too so his ability to write his ability to talk normally so those are things that we'll find out about over the next couple of days I know the doctor said today that he was able to write and ask through writing who won the game like to me what when I heard that today that almost didn't even seem real it's stunning to me doc it is and it's pretty impressive that he was one that tells us a ton of things about him one that he was alert enough to do that to that he remembered where he was that day so he didn't have any type of amnesia three that he was processing things in his brain enough to know that one he's a football player two he played in the game three he had an injury and four there may have been a game that happened after him so the amount that goes into such a simple question like that is actually tremendous from from a recovery perspective for him so I'll be interested to hear what he what he says after they tell him that the game wasn't played yeah right dr. Brandon Harrison here with us Denny Kellington who's a part of the bill staff he was the one that was giving CPR on the field to Damar Hamlin clearly he's been someone that has been talked about a lot today as he should and a lot of Bills players are posting about him the immediate response doc it's it's you know I know that in the moment it's all about how people respond but the immediate response really did save his life you're exactly right so the immediate response was what made him not only save his life but hopefully will lead him to be a relatively functional and hopefully essentially back to you know quote normal as he can be so whenever you have a trauma a traumatic injury like he did with a heart stops and you're not getting oxygen to places the faster you can get somebody CPR the more likely it is that they will get good oxygen flow to their brain and so you know we think about CPR this would be my quick two second speech on CPR if anybody ever sees anybody go down and they don't have a pulse don't worry about giving them breaths in their mouth just give them CPR on their chest get about a hundred beats a minute do it to that stay in the live song that we all hear about and try to pump their butt as best you can because there's a lot of reserves from oxygen in the blood so if you really do good CPR very quickly you can actually save somebody's life like we saw happen on the field so it's really impressive obviously dr. Brandon Erickson our main focus is on the recovery of Damar Hamlin but there's a lot of people that saw some horrible things on Monday the mental side of this just how do you kind of think people get help is it just simply by by talking to people from from what they saw unfortunately occur the other night it is especially you know certainly there are a lot of kids watching this certainly you know football game a lot of implications from a fantasy football embedding perspective so a lot of eyes on this game and obviously very unfortunate when it happened I thought the players did a great job of kind of you know circling around him so that you know there weren't a lot of people who are constantly watching this but you're exactly right anytime you see traumatic injury anytime there's a trauma that happens the first step is to understand that one you did see a traumatic thing and so if this is something that's new to you if you're not comfortable this if you haven't seen this certainly good if you're you know if you're a younger person talk to your parents they're a great resource if you're an older person or you know if you don't have access to things like that certainly calling you know helplines there's a lot of different helplines that you call if you're confused about what you saw if you just need somebody to listen to certainly any type of primary care doctor and even an orthopedic surgeon like me I'm always happy to talk to patients like this because you really want to make sure that one you process what happened to you understand why it happened and three you know you put yourself in a situation where you feel comfortable going forward doc you played football at Notre Dame what do you think we're gonna see on the field Sunday I know the bills did talk today that Damar's father did address them and they're gonna go play and that's what Damar Hamlin wanted to do and and would and will want them to do just I can't even imagine what those players are going through and you know that the power of a locker room how it could bring a lot of people together it is and my hope is that they rally around him and rally around the fact that he's doing well I think that was hugely important for the team psyche because you know we each have our own individual psyche but you hear a lot of times people talk about the psyche of the team and that's the most powerful thing especially in football and so the fact that he's doing well and the team knows that his main focus is to continue what they started at the beginning of the season is really powerful for them because it's very hard to go out when you know that when your brothers got hurt especially hurt in a way like this you know guys have you know broken bones and ACL tears and we know that they're gonna be okay from those things and it's not gonna affect their you know life as a human after football but when you see something like this we know that there can be some long-term implications of things that may happen down the road and so it's just it's really important that he's making the improvements that he has and just so everybody knows these are very very fast and kind of speedy dramatic improvements that he's making so hopefully the team can take some and kind of take some solace it and be pretty pretty happy with that and they can do the old you know win one for the giver if you will what else do you want people to know about this situation dr. Brandon Erickson just with your medical background yeah no that guy it's a good question I think you know one of the things that people should take away from this is that one working quickly and working as a team can have really great results and in this situation everybody did what they were supposed to do and didn't hesitate and that's probably what's gonna have saved this young man's life so understanding how much one person can do and how effective people can be is very important to if you see something like this happen and you're in a situation where you don't have access to medical professionals or AEDs or things like that simple CPR can be very effective and then three the that AED thing I told you about before that defibrillator we those are actually in schools and in movie theaters and airports and they're pretty much all over the place now they're usually in a little glass box and they're in a little kind of pouch and what they are is it's a little device with two little pads on it there's pictures on it on how to use it I'd encourage everybody to just go online and just look at what that is and see how you put it on somebody and how you use it you'll take about two minutes to see that and that way in case you ever faced in the situation where you're walking by and something happens with somebody and you see one you know how to use it because you're as good as any doctor in the field if you can do that before we let dr. Brandon Erickson run just to quickly transition to two questions not related to the Buffalo Bills and DeMar Hamlin and what occurred Lamar Jackson he has not practiced again he has this PCL injury it's now gonna be 32 days since the the knee injury a lot of people wonder how much is this contract related from the medical side is 32 days a pretty long time here to not be able to get back get back out there in the practice field yeah I would tell you you know PCL injuries are a little bit tough so when you know guys have ACL injuries boom it's surgery you're after the season we know that PCL injury is kind of similar to what that Wilson had a couple years ago our last year to me they are injuries that generally heal okay on their own but the knee never heals to be the same as it was before the injury so we see guys that come back from ACL tears we fix their ACL they do very well a PCL when you have a PCL injury it generally gets stretched out but doesn't completely rupture and it scores in a little bit over time but it always leaves just a little bit of leftover kind of looseness or lack of you that me and to get somebody used to doing that who relies on his ability to scramble and cut and pivot and make guys miss to be successful it's not that unheard of for him to miss you know the last month or so you know we chat a little bit on the Sunday show that you know it's kind of surprised they didn't put him on injured reserve because we have this idea of how fast we can get guys back but the reality is you know injuries like that take time and so I don't think it's unreasonable for him to be out especially with you know especially with the situation that the Ravens are in as far as the playoffs are concerned and before we let you run Jalen hurts with the shoulder injury we're expecting him to make his return this week and we'll see how the Eagles are gonna handle this is there a concern if you're an Eagles fan just because he's been out the last few weeks or was it more so they thought they were gonna clinch they know they they they have not yet but maybe they were just being a little extra cautious last week or two no I think he was probably the right move regardless of where they were at in the season to hold him out for the last two weeks you know those those SC or that's cervicalicular injury that he had you know just a little bit more significant than those AC injuries that we see just because it involves everything that's very close to your breastplate or your sternum and that's not as common of a place to have an injury so I think it was the right move to hold him out now certainly it's very important to win this week but you may see and this is just me talking in the side but you know it'd be interesting to see if they do start him or not this week because with the Giants potentially playing some backups and the Eagles just need to win I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they didn't start with him but he was there in case they needed him in the second half we appreciate the time dr. Brandon Erickson thank you so much Zach I will talk to you on Sunday brother have a nice night you got it there is dr. Brandon Erickson joining us on CBS Sports Radio Jaylen Hertz this was actually just released remain limited in Thursday's practice there was a video of him throwing today so we shall see if he does return this weekend but limited today in practice but do appreciate dr. Brandon Erickson joining us to provide some further details on the Tamar Hamlin situation and we continue to be encouraged by the good news that we did get today the listening you love is on the free Odyssey app your trusted local radio stations coverage of your favorite teams live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand best of all you can completely customize your listening experience follow topics you care about like leagues and teams pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later there's a lot to listen to so get started and download the free Odyssey app today no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pod why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast the listening you love is on the free Odyssey app your trusted local radio stations coverage of your favorite teams live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand best of all you can completely customize your listening experience follow topics you care about like leagues and teams pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later there's a lot to listen to so get started and download the free Odyssey app today you're listening to the Zach Gelb show the biggest story of the day Tamar Hamlin has made remarkable progress he is awake he's been able to communicate via writing even asked via writing who won the game had the game finish out between the Bengals in bills he is still critically ill but appears neurologically intact and his lungs continue to heal and he's making steady progress so that is the latest and that is the great news that we got today on Tamar Hamlin now from a football standpoint in terms of the schedule there's a lot being thrown out there I saw Rob Maddie today who works for the AP and is based in Philadelphia he said the NFL will not resume the Bills Bengals game two people familiar with the decision told Rob now I think we all expected that with that being said though we have not heard that from the NFL yet all we've heard from the NFL is that that game would not be resumed this week so with that being said I do think not knowing Rob sources I would imagine that's the NFL tipping off Rob and tipping off the Associated Press on what they intend to do and then maybe you'll get an official announcement tomorrow but you did have the Buffalo Bills speak today and this is via Tom Pelissero and they were asked if they feel ready to play a football game in three days Josh Allen said I do Sean McDermott said I do as well and both did talk about how Tamar Hamlin's improvement and his father saying Tamar want them to get back on the field to focus on their goals have helped so I think it it's clear when we were in this waiting period and personally not really caring if games are gonna be played or not this weekend but once you get the encouraging news on Tamar Hamlin I think that's what the NFL was waiting for to make an official decision on this weekend because all you heard this week about this weekend was no scheduled changes were made yet and since this is already through the business day of Thursday and tomorrow's Friday and now the Buffalo Bills so I do think their voices are very powerful in this are saying they want to play we will have a normal or as normal as you can with these circumstances week 18 in the NFL in terms of the games being played but let me just ask you this Hickey and I think it's a it's a tough question especially with what we know with Rob's reporting from the Associated Press that he's been told by two people that they will not resume that Bill's Bengals game do you think there is still a chance that they will resume that Bill's Bengals game because it's one thing for the Associated Press to report it the only thing though that we've heard so far from the NFL is that that game just not going to be resumed this week that does not mean that it will be resumed next week and then maybe they do push everything back a week as you just lose that bye week in between conference championship game and the Super Bowl if they were going to go down that road to kind of determine you know exactly when the playoffs would actually start so you could also figure out what the seating would be as in a level as level playing field as you can because everyone then would be playing the same amount of games so but long-winded a question let me get your answer do you think there's still a chance they they resume bills and Bengals I would say no for two reasons number one I just think it's still too soon to go revisit the place that you just saw your teammate collapse on the ground and I agree have his heart stopped for a few minutes so if they if there is home field advantage they meet in the AFC title game or something like that I think it's a little different you have a little bit more time and the stakes are higher but it's kind of basically pick up where the game resumed and had that memory lasting over this over the you know both players sidelines and the entire same just feels not right and also to I just think from a logistic standpoint the NFL can do it and also keep the not the bye weekend between which it sounds like they are desperate to keep that week off in between the the title games and the Super Bowl I know they're not gonna be willing schedule that if they're not gonna be willing to just say we'll push everything back and they still plan to keep that week the bye weekend between the conference title games and the Super Bowl then there's no chance of this doing it of this happening of this game being resumed I don't think they're gonna resume it based off what you said from the start I think we're all ready to just move forward from that game and not relive that moment and continue that moment I think now it's about moving forward tomorrow getting better and going on to the rest of the schedule I don't think even though you could say it benefits the Chiefs if the Chiefs win this weekend then the number one overall seed that stuff to me with what we saw on Monday and what those players directly involved in Buffalo and Cincinnati I think that it's very trivial and it puts life into perspective that even though the home field advantage could be determined by that and the Chiefs get the number one overall seed because of that that it's just something that we will all have to live with now there have been a few other scenarios Hickey and let's talk through this there have been a few other scenarios that have been floated out there this was from Adam Schefter via one of the Hasselbeck brothers and I think the league actually the way that Schefter kind of worded is considering this so they would declare Bengals and Bills a tie and then let's just say if this weekend the Bills beat the Patriots and the Bengals go on to get a victory as well up against the Ravens the Bengals would then be the three the Bills would be the two and then you would have the New England you have the Kansas City Chiefs being the number one overall seed so what they have not this is we don't know if the NFL is gonna do this but what it was being floated out there was that Kansas City if they're the number one overall seed or whatever the number one overall seed is would get a choice of do you want home field advantage or do you want the buy and I think the reason why that decision would be made is because Kansas City probably I would imagine would take the buy because then you're definitely advancing to the second round you're in the second round and then the home field advantage or whatever they don't choose would go to the two seed so therefore if Buffalo who if they would have beat Cincinnati and let's just say we think they're probably gonna beat New England they would have the number one overall seed if they get to an AFC title game then you would have that home title game if Kansas City did take the buy because you would tend to agree right Hickey that if you're given the choice of home field or the buy you'd probably take the buy over home field because even though Kansas City as let's say if then they had to play the first round would be going up against the Patriots let's say or Miami or whoever you would still think they win the game but you never know what could happen and also getting your players an extra week of rest even though sometimes we've seen it not work it's usually something that players want to take there's just no reason why risk an extra game even though you think it's gonna be a win against whoever that seventh seed is it's or six seed is it's not worth risking when I heard that this morning I'm not gonna lie to you my first reaction was that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard but the more I thought about it like that was my hot take in the moment I go why the heck would they do that but the more I thought about it I actually think it would be the right course of action because I know there's been some talks of maybe just getting rid of the bye week and having an eighth playoff spot I don't want to see that and that's coming from someone whose team right could actually benefit from having that extra spot I don't want to see eight teams in the playoffs but I would actually think that if if it goes the way that we think it's gonna go where the Chiefs will be the one seed after this week and you give them the choice do you want home field or the buy you would imagine they're gonna take home field I mean out of the buy and then the bills would end up getting home field advantage and if they get to an AFC title game then you have the AFC title game in Buffalo I also did here and this is some Schefter that they are considering a neutral site AFC title game if the bills or Bengals are in it and it's an uneven amount of games and they don't have the higher seed let's just say like if it was Bengals and Chiefs or Bills and Chiefs that it would be a neutral site and one stadium that is being considered actually is Lucas Oil Stadium for that neutral site game it's a horrible idea but I hate to take the the home crowd out of it in its entirety now you know Buffalo Bills fans if they're in an AFC title game they will travel we saw them travel in a in a crazy snowstorm to get to Detroit up against I think that was Cleveland the Browns they were somehow able to get through that snowstorm to get to Detroit and you had all the Bills fans in Detroit right before their game up against the Browns how would you feel and whatever they decide what we'll have to live with and and I don't think it's worth throwing a fit about but how would you feel about a neutral site AFC title game it's a decent option I said I like the first option but I think the first one bang the one seed shoes is home field or the buy I think that's you want to say the most fair in this situation and it still allows the platform to be as normal as possible instead of having a neutral site game but either one I think that's still for the most part you can live with considering the circumstances and the other thing that Schefter said and even Schefter said he doesn't think this would happen but one person did say to him that you know wouldn't it be the ultimate sign of sportsmanship if let's just say after this weekend bills win Chiefs win and the Chiefs have the the number one overall seed if the Chiefs just say to Buffalo hey if you get to the AFC title game we've been in the AFC title game for the last four years and have hosted it Buffalo you could just have it this year and Schefter even said of Kansas City is as good as they think they are it doesn't matter where the game is played but then Schefter quickly followed it up that's what someone said to him but he would think that would be highly unlikely that any team would actually do that even though would be a great sign of sportsmanship out of all the ideas that I've heard that decision of home field or the buy in this unusual circumstance is probably the best one and in a funny way when I first heard I was like what yeah just make someone the one seed and just had go on with normal but the more I think about it if Kansas City is the one you give them the choice home field to the buy and assuming they do take the buy then Buffalo if they get to an AFC title game would have home field advantage so that's probably what I think they could go now they could just simply say no one obviously could see what happens on Monday night occurring and we're just going to go with the normal format by winning percentage based off of where everyone's at even if there is an uneven amount of games on everyone has played the same amount of games we'll take a break we'll come on back on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio and we'll discuss the future of Lamar Jackson no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pot why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast the listening you love is on the free Odyssey app your trusted local radio stations coverage of your favorite teams live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand best of all you can completely customize your listening experience follow topics you care about like leagues and teams pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later there's a lot to listen to so get started and download the free Odyssey app today no one's more locked into the NFL than first and pot why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization bad offensive coaching and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay by the way well because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore subscribe to first and pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast