HappyDays

It's an acceptable solution, really about as good as it can be. Fans of different teams will complain but an unprecedented situation took place and a young man nearly died live on national television. There was never going to be a clean path forward.

A black cloud has hung over me since Monday. I haven't been fully myself. After the past couple hours I can breathe again. Whatever happens next with this season I am at peace.

They'll be ready.

As expected.

If amything I feel bad for the Bengals if that is the solution because they won't control their destiny for the #2 seed. But any solution would be unfair to at least one team so it is what it is.

I'm getting very emotional at work right now. The medical professionals that got Hamlin to this point will never get the amount of appreciation they deserve.

This thread got really hostile. That's disappointing. I expect the Bills players to show up and play, there's really no other choice, but I have no expectations about how well they will play. I think it will take one game to ramp up and get themselves 100% focused on the sport again. Against a team fighting for their playoff lives I'm not expecting a victory in that scenario, nor do I care about the outcome. I'll tune in just to watch the team show up as a unit and get the ovation they deserve. Interestingly the league's decision on the Bengals game may impact our approach to this game. If the reports are correct that the Bengals game will be declared no-contest I would be fine if the Bills rolled into the Pats game with very little game planning and starting a lot of backups. Use week 18 as a pseudo bye week and hopefully get some good news on Hamlin over the next week. Then roll into the playoffs likely as the #3 seed with the team fully focused, rested, and able to think about something other than how their teammate's recovery is going. That to me is the ideal scenario.

There's a really important distinction in what you're referring to and what actually happened, though. Hamlin wasn't in a serious car accident for example. He was almost killed playing the same sport that these players subject themselves to every week, on a seemingly innocuous hit. What they witnessed is not just something that happened to a colleague, it is an extremly tangible experience for them. It would be more like your truck driver colleague is in a nearly fatal car accident because the brakes in his truck failed, and now you have to drive your truck provided by the same company a few days later. A little bit of extra time off would be understandable. Chris Simms made a great point today, speaking as a former player - cardiac injury is not something that NFL players have internalized as a risk. Everyone knows about head and neck and spine injuries. Mentally and emotionally they've prepared themselves for that risk. This is a totally novel case where a hit these players make/take dozens of times a week almost killed a young man in a terrifying and public way. It's an entirely different avenue of risk that every NFL player is now mentally grappling with, especially the Bills and Bengals players that saw it firsthand. Sitting from the comfort of my living room I can think rationally that since this is the first time something like this has happened in the modern NFL era, there's no use dwelling on the risk of it happening again. But it's understandable if some of the players need a little extra time to make their peace with that.

It has been two days since they watched their teammate die on the field. My biggest concern for this game is the Bills players and coaches being mentally and physically prepared after a short week made shorter. But I don't expect the game to be delayed. If the Bills come out flat and lose I'm at peace with that.

The thing I don't like about this is the Bills and/or Bengals would have to play against a team coming off a bye on wildcard weekend.

I saw a few journalists on Twitter say that the hospital was supposed to give an official update, but then the hospital came out and said there was no update to give yet. So there will hopefully be one at some point.

Pick the first 8 minutes of any Bills game this year and see how much it matches up to the ultimate result. Ridiculous post.

Still no official update on his status unfortunately.

I suspect at this point the league is waiting for some kind of official update from the hospital on Hamlin's status before making any announcements about the game or playoff seeding. There's no need to rush.

Nothing they can do about the Patriots game unfortunately. It's an awful position. The Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives and the Bills understandably will not be focused.

No, the AFC wildcard round would be pushed to the following week. Bills and/or Bengals would get 10 days rest before their wildcard round. So you would sort of stagger the two conference playoffs so that any team who participates in the Super Bowl has a bye at some point during the playoffs, but not the week before the Super Bowl like usual. I still think win percentage with a 16 game schedule for Bills and Bengals is the easiest way to move forward, but if the NFL is looking for a way to have every game played and still be totally fair with regards to seeding then this would be the only way I've seen that makes sense. I don't care what they decide. But it's an interesting idea.

As someone who has said the only way through this is to take the game off the schedule and award seeding based on win percentage, I'm intrigued by this format: The idea is certainly outside the box but also 100% logical.

Looking through the top donations on his Go Fund Me page I was struck by several donors with Fantasy Football League in their names, all donations of at least $1,000. Presumably all the members of those leagues, maybe because their championship matchup was disrupted by the game's postponement, decided to take the whole pot and donate it to Hamlin's foundation right at the end of their season. For some reason this is really sticking with me, even moreso than all the NFL players, coaches, etc. listed as donors. The way this injury has affected every single person that pays attention to sports at some level.

The way I feel is that if the team decides to pack it in for the season I support them. If they decide to give it their all and rally for a playoff push I support them, however it ends. I go as the team does.

The weird thing about this sport is that the worst injuries always seem to come from innocent looking hits.

I wish we could get the #1 seed too but focusing on the competitive disadvantage of a life or death situation is, to me, the wrong focus.