A top NFL official objected to a report that the league wanted to resume Monday night’s Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game five minutes after Bills safety Damar Hamlin was removed from the Paycor Stadium turf by ambulance in critical condition.

“How do you resume play after you’ve seen such a traumatic event occur in front of you real time?” said Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice president of football operations.

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Vincent spoke with league-wide media on a conference call around 11:15 p.m. CST Monday.

On its national telecast of the game, ESPN said the teams would be given five minutes to warm up after the nearly half-hour break in the action while Hamlin was given CPR on the field and prepped for transport.

Vincent said that was never an option considered by the league and he did not know where that report originated. Instead, the players returned to the locker rooms and the NFL announced the game had been temporarily suspended.

“It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play,” Vincent said. “That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive.”

Shortly after the suspension announcement, the NFL issued a statement that the game had been postponed.

Hamlin went down after tackling Cincinnati wide receiver Tee Higgins in the first quarter of Monday night’s game. After standing up, Hamlin collapsed on the turf.

As medical personnel attended to the second-year player from Pitt on the field, his teammates and opponents looked on with concern – some obviously praying, others openly crying.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, so immediately my player hat went on,” said Vincent, who spent 15 seasons in the NFL as a defensive back.

The conference call did not provide any update on Hamlin’s condition. He was transported to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, which is about 2 miles from Paycor Stadium.

It also did not update the status of the game – if or when it might be resumed.

“That’s not the consideration right now,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy. “Our concern is for the player and his well-being. At the appropriate time, I’m sure that we’ll have a conversation around the next steps regarding the game.”

Vincent, Miller and Dawn Aponte, a chief football administrative officer for the league who was at the game, participated in the conference call.

Vincent said the Bills flew home on Monday night.

The NFL has postponed dozens of games for a wide range of reasons, including dangerous weather, field conditions, Major League Baseball playoffs, COVID-19 and player strikes.

NFL games also have had play suspended for lightning, power outages, spectator interference and malfunctioning sprinklers. But those games were resumed on the same day.

Monday night’s contest appears to be the first that the league has postponed because of a player injury. Even the game in which Chuck Hughes died was completed.

A Detroit Lions wide receiver, Hughes is NFL’s only on-the-field fatality. He collapsed while returning to the huddle after an incompletion with 62 seconds remaining against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 24, 1971.

An ambulance took Hughes to a Detroit hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The game resumed after the fallen player had left the stadium. It was determined that Hughes died of a coronary thrombosis, a clot inside a blood vessel in the heart.

One of the issues facing the league is the magnitude of Monday night’s game. It involved two teams trying to secure the No. 1 seed and its accompanying first-round bye and homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs with only one weekend remaining in the NFL’s regular season.

At 12-3, Buffalo has secured the AFC East title and an accompanying home playoff game. But the Bills also are trying to keep pace with the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the Denver Broncos 27-24 on Sunday to improve to 13-3.

At 11-4, Cincinnati is one victory away from locking up the AFC North crown and an accompanying home playoff game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.