"The league did not cancel that game"

League officials still had not decided the game’s fate. But for both teams’ coaches and players, there was never a doubt: They would not play another down that Monday night.

“The Lord himself could come down, and we were not going to play again,” a high-ranking official from one of the teams told ESPN on the condition of his and the team’s anonymity. “She [Aponte] was getting pressure. She was not getting consistent and direct messaging that she deserved to receive.”

Aponte appeared caught between two teams that didn’t want to play and league officials inside the command center, led by NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, who left open that possibility for nearly an hour, the official said. “Whatever crazy nonsense she was getting,” the official added, “man, she held it. She held it strong.”

While NFL officials insisted that they never intended to restart the Bills-Bengals game, the accounts of coaches, players, union officials and team executives tell another story: Postponing the game was a ground-up decision.