NFL Announces Bills/Bengals Game Won’t Be Resumed, Considering Two Playoff Resolutions

Update:

The NFL officially announced that the game between the Bills and Bengals from Week 17 will not be resumed. 

“This has been a very difficult week,” Goodell said. “We continue to focus on the recovery of Damar Hamlin and are encouraged by the improvements in his condition as well as the tremendous outpouring of support and care for Damar and his family from across the country.  We are also incredibly appreciative of the amazing work of the medical personnel and commend each and every one of them.”

The NFL plans to vote tomorrow regarding three potential resolutions that will determine how this impacts playoff teams. 

The resolutions include:

1) The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team.

The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below:

Scenario 1

Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 2

Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 3

Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

2) If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati in Week 18 it will have defeated Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, twice but will not be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore will for a 17-game schedule. 

If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and if those two clubs are schedule to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site for that game would be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play one another in the Wild Card round, the game sites would be determined by the regular scheduling procedures.

“As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities,” Goodell said.  “I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking the ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances.”

According to Rob Maaddi, the NFL will not resume the postponed Bills/Bengals game from Week 17. 

Mark Maske adds the league is still working through the implications for seeding and playoff structure in the AFC. The game would have had a major impact on who would earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC, with Buffalo trying to hold off Cincinnati and Kansas City for home-field advantage and a first-round bye. 

A loss by the Bengals also would have put the AFC North title in reach for the Baltimore Ravens, who play Cincinnati in Week 18. 

The game was paused with about five minutes left in the first quarter and Cincinnati leading 7-3 after Bills S Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field. 

Hamlin remains in critical condition at a hospital in Cincinnati. However, he has made steady progress and is now awake. 

We’ll have more on the game as the news is available.