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A split-second clip of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow throwing a football in the aftermath of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's collapse on Monday, has sparked debate on social media.
Questions have been asked on Twitter about whether the players were told that they had five minutes to warm up before the game would be resumed.
This was mentioned in the commentary of game broadcaster ESPN, during their Monday Night Football coverage, but has been strenuously denied by the NFL in post-game interviews and statements.
Hamlin, 24, collapsed on the field during the first quarter after he tackled Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, whose helmet hit the Bills' player the chest.
Hamlin received CPR on the field for 30 minutes before being rushed to a local hospital, leaving players from both sides looking visibly upset.
One person tweeted that broadcaster ESPN had continued to show live pictures from the game and that Burrow was seen throwing a football.
They wrote: "NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said during the NFL conference call that the league didn't inform the teams they had five minutes to warm up to resume play.
"Based on the broadcast, it certainly doesn't appear to be true."
Another added in a tweet: "Joe Buck stated it on-air as fact four separate times so figuring out who is lying should be pretty straightforward."
A third wrote: "The Vincent statement is pretty damn near close. My question is, why was Joe Burrow warming up?"
Commentators Buck and Troy Aikman were describing the action when the serious incident unfolded.
Buck seemed to suggest that play may continue, with pictures showing the officials speaking to Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and his Bills counterpart, Sean McDermott.
On the live TV broadcast, Buck said: "The coaches, the two head coaches got together and they'll have five minutes to warm up. Troy, you've played this game for the majority of your life and after that, you have been calling these games…
"I have never seen anything like this and I have said, they have been given five minutes to, quote unquote, get ready to go back to playing.
"That's the word we get from the league and the word we get from down on the field, but nobody is moving and then when we got the update that when, in five minutes, that these players are going to start playing football again, we saw Zac Taylor live, walk across the field to Sean McDermott.
"Players were being told that they have five minutes to get back ready for play and that players were standing around," Buck added.
After the game was officially postponed, Troy Vincent, the NFL executive vice president of football operations, denied that any decision about resuming play was discussed.
In a conference call with the media, Vincent said: "Neither coach was talking about resuming play, the players weren't… How do you resume play after you've seen such a traumatic event occur in front of you real time?
"That's the way we were thinking about it, Commissioner [Roger Goodell] and I."
Vincent said of the suggestion that the players would have been asked to continue playing: "It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That's ridiculous. That's insensitive."
Journalist Albert Breer tweeted at the time that Burrow had called together the Bengals' captains so they could go to the Bills' locker room to show support for Hamlin and his teammates.
He tweeted: "Was told that after the teams were brought back in to wait inside, QB Joe Burrow gathered the Bengals captains and they walked over as a group to the Bills' locker room to check on the Buffalo players."
Hamlin's friend and marketing representative Jordon Rooney gave an update on the NFL star, on Tuesday morning.
Rooney tweeted: "Update on Damar: His vitals are back to normal and they have put him to sleep to put a breathing tube down his throat. They are currently running tests. We will provide updates as we have them."
Newsweek has contacted the NFL Players Association for comment.
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