Beck Water

When the doctors in their press conference said "he's still very sick", they likely weren't joking. It's fantastic that he's off the ventilator and able to ask questions and communicate. But there are a host of complications to almost every organ system following cardiac arrest and recovery. We already know Damar suffered from, and is on his way to overcoming, one of them (ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome, the reason he was proned) I started to write a longer explanation and deleted it. I don't want to Be That Guy. Suffice it to say that early signs of Damar's recovery are absolutely fantastic and his chance of a future look bright, but near-term, his doctors could be managing serious conditions of several organ systems. Keeping him in the ICU under the care of the same physician team is probably for the best. If you really want to know, google "post cardiac arrest syndrome" and don't say I didn't warn you it's scary. But keep in mind, his neurological status and the fact that he's off the ventilator are very very good signs.

A good question is: where is the locker room on McDaniels right now? Does the offense believe in Stidham? He did throw for 365 yds and 3 TD and take them to OT last week vs. SF My impression is that McDaniel has lost them and it's a dumpster fire But SF has quietly fought their way to the #2 seed in the NFC, and a team doesn't usually take an opponent like that to OT unless they believe in themselves And their coach So would love to be wrong. Maybe Carr *was* the problem?

I think the big disadvantage is the work that our guys normally put in on their own. Players like Poyer and White and Jones and Oliver and Phillips and hopefully now Rousseau and Epenesa spend hours watching game film of the opponent, looking for anything that can give them an edge. Same thing on offense. Very hard to be focused and put that grind when you're shell-shocked and worried about your brother player. But transitioning to giddy with relief and joyful doesn't make focus any easier. We do play them, but teams still scout and self-scout for the latest tendencies.

Again, way above my knowledge base,but if it's felt to have a genetic component, I would think genetic screening and from @pennstate10 knowledge, cardiac MRI as perhaps the most definitive test, would be next steps. But that doesn't address your fundamental issue which seems to be: if the genetic screening is positive, but the functional diagnostic tests (stress echo, cardiac MRI) do not show current disease, do you keep them off the field? And I can make arguments both ways on that. I would think they would keep him from playing.

That's a really good question - what screenings do they do? (and also, intending no aspersions so college football fans please don't beat me, is Pitt a top program that would screen? My friend's daughter went to a D1 school and they didn't screen her. I had thought (and this is just chit chat with cardiologists during my mom's CHF diagnosis) that there was a bunch of work about detecting HCM by 12 lead EKG now. This kind of thing, which was just published when my mom was being diagnosed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4344534/ The idea being that echocardiograms don't detect HCM before the heart muscle actually thickens, but they were able to pull out subtleties from the EKG that did. I haven't kept up, and like a lot of research it may or may not have panned out in wider use. I won't speak again what I feared it was.

In 2010 I went out to dinner and a show with some friends who were Broncos fans. Now it's always a challenge when a new coach takes over for a long time championship and Superbowl winning coach but they were very bitter about McDaniels dismantling the team, trading away Cutler in his 4th year just when it looked as though the lightbulb had come on for him in his 3rd year, drafting Tim Tebow in the first round, the whole thing. OK then there were the Rams, I've never been a Rams fan including through the "Greatest Show on Turf", but I thought it was a stupid decision when the Rams fired Pat Shurmur and brought Josh McDaniels, fresh off dismantling the Broncos, as OC in Bradford's second year. Bradford had looked like he had potential his rookie season - reasonable YPG, reasonable TD throws, too many INT but that's not uncommon for a rookie. In his second season under McDaniels, Bradford just looked like a hot mess. He threw 6 TD all season, I kid you not, and 6 INTs to go with them - half the TD % he had his previous year. Then his 3rd season with McDaniels out the door and Schottenheimer in, he looked as though he could play once again. Conincydink, I think not. I think it's Round 2 of evidence that with McDaniels, you suit his system or you don't, he won't adjust. Anyway, GO RAIDERS!

I love that. Jessica Pegula has been through a lot this year, dealing with whatever her Mom is going through and yet continuing to play professional tennis at the highest level of her life. I would say she might be inspired by her mom, as well. Tremendous respect for the way she's compartmentalizing and even letting it inspire her!

I just object to loudmouth Pat McAfee flexing his guns and acting as though it's a bigger deal and broader Bills fandom tradition than it is. I hope Bills fans don't let McAfee flex their traditions along with his guns (and I do enjoy his show) His guns are out for a reason. "Curls for the Girls!"

Pretty sure the guy who tossed them was arrested, charged and possibly banned from the stadium for life What he was charged with, I'm not sure. But something to be borne in mind. Speaking of born(e), how exactly do fans get them in there, with a "clear bag" policy and a pat-down search? McAfee trying too too...er..may I say, Hard? to make "Bildos" a thing. Let's not and say we didn't

As the physicians giving the press conference from UC noted, commotio cordis is a "diagnosis of exclusion" therefore, they will be carefully testing and ruling out structural and genetic causes before deciding that it's commitio cordis. I had the impression that they're actually a little nonplussed that so many physicians are going on social media and beating (HA!) the commotio cordis drum. It's certainly possible that the diagnosis will be something else, and if it isn't, it won't be for lack of doctors searching vigorously for another diagnosis. The physicians treating Damar are not gonna be diagnosing based on the media and social media consensus. I think you might be misunderstanding the literature just a little bit. I linked a TBN article upthread about a college athlete from Lewiston NY who just suffered commotio cordis this fall. He survived, thanks to his coach doing CPR and the presence of an AED. I think he was 18. It's certainly rare, and only 25% of the diagnosed cases occur in people >16 - which means the fact that it hasn't happened to other Div 1 college and NFL players is not surprising and doesn't make it less likely that it happened to Damar. Rare events do occur. Your rib cage fully forms at a far younger age than kids playing sports that hurl projectiles with enough force to cause commotio cordis. However, thickness of the chest wall (including muscles and fat) is thought to be a factor. The fact that participation in contact sports and sports involving forcibly hurled projectiles such as hockey pucks, baseballs, and lacrosse balls falls off quite a lot after HS has also been pointed to as a factor.

I could be wrong, but I thought it was announced that although Damar as a 2nd year player is not "vested" in the NFL's benefits that they would continue to take care of him as needed. Not a bad question to "press" on what that means specifically of course.

Chills I expect there was a surge of "healing energy" through our boys yesterday and again this morning. They all probably feel about 25 lbs lighter Except our OLmen and DTs. I hope they feel 25 lbs heavier.

Only two official concussions. Cincy and now.

Yeah, this is NOT a player suffering from "affluenza". This is a Leader of Men Channing Crowder can Bite Me.

Channing Crowder doesn't know ***** from shinola bringing Josh Allen into it That's not the vibe his teammates give off about him. They love him. They would run through a wall for him.

That's a great question, and I'm sure one that the Bills FO has posed to the league

If nothing else, after having a breathing tube shoved down his throat for 3 1/2 days, he has the Granddaddy of All Sore Throats

I mean, it was a press conference, and they're ICU docs. "Home with his family" is the near term goal, but they're not going to spell out all the possible intermediate steps and decision making plusses and minuses nor should they.

Yeah, still a bit too soon. At this point he got off the ventilator, but that probably means the cardiologists have a backlog of tests they've deferred because they're hard to do while the guy is on a ventilator. Let's get him up and walking and finish up the diagnosis first.

This kind of got buried in concerns, but TBN wrote a nice story on a Lewiston NY native who may have gone through the same thing starting October 27 https://buffalonews.com/news/local/lewiston-natives-heart-stopped-while-playing-college-baseball-hes-making-a-full-recovery/article_f4bd5c12-8baf-11ed-b59c-7fb841b8ca04.html Damar was evidently sedated for ~2 - 2 1/2 days which could represent difference in protocol between UC and Cornell-Weil, or, a higher level of emergency care available at an NFL game vs. a college Baseball practice leading to a bit better initial outcome. He has been cleared to play baseball again as of Thanksgiving.

It probably included his closest friends on the Bills, such Dane Jackson (who, as you note, was a college teammate)

Autocorrect still sucks, Muppy

I'm sure that "one more thing" at the end of Josh's presser was impactful for not just Tee Higgins but the entire Bengals team, as well. Don't take this on yourself It was a football play Bengals fans who are all salty that their team is getting screwed need to remember that the Bengals captains reportedly came to the Bills locker room to say "we don't want to continue the game either". They had their own emotions and processing, less than the Bills but still - very hard to play undistracted with a single mind, and very possible to get hurt if you don't.

In fact, unless I mis-heard, McDermott said the playoff implications if the NFL held that the Bills L were discussed at the time on Monday night and....everyone said "don't care, all we care about right now is Damar, we don't want to play the game".

Absolutely. When the Bengals were down to the Bucs 17-3 at the half, they were TOTALLY in control of the game and anyone who thinks differently just wasn't watching.