By all accounts, the NFL canvassed players, coaches, union representatives and more.

How did the Buffalo Bills want to proceed, after watching their fellow teammate and player Damar Hamlin suffer cardiac arrest and need on-field resuscitation?

What was the sentiment among the Cincinnati Bengals, who hosted the Bills in Monday night’s game, thereby finding themselves also in proximity to a scary and unprecedented situation?

And most crucially: What was safest and most expedient for Hamlin, who received CPR and defibrillation in a timeline so sudden that University of Cincinnati Medical Center doctors would say the urgency of available care may have made the difference in saving his life?