Playoff Solutions Assuming they don’t replay the Bengals game.

[dma0034]

3 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

So cancel the games this week.

 

Resume the Bills-Bengals the following Sunday as the only game, on a neutral field, in Cleveland, since the Bills won't want to play on the same turf where the incident occurred. This will also make up for the Bill giving up a home game to play in Detroit earleir this year. They game starts at 0-0 from the start of the first quarter, to give everyone a fresh start, free of the memories from last night. Half the tickets go to each team.

 

The Week 18 games are the followlng week.

 

All the playoff weeks are pushed back one week. The NFL has done it before, after 9-11.

 

Makes most people happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well this game will 100% resume with the Bengals winning 7-3 with 6 minutes left. 

 

 

Why should the Bengals give up their home field advantage?

 

 

 

[chongli]

1 minute ago, What a Tuel said:

 

If thats the case and a win is impossible then I'd imagine the Bills would rather take the forfeit than no game played as it gives them the highest probability to still get the 1st seed.

 

As I stated before, Cincy wouldn't feel right taking a W due to forfeit, and won't accept it. Plus someone posted above the NFL doesn't want to take the blowback from forcing the Bills to take a forfeit because of the Hamlin situation. It is likely a tie, double forfeit, double win, or replay the game at a later date, delaying the season if need be.

[mikemac2001]

Don’t count the game and base seeding off conf record - problem is ravens can’t win div but that’s the same scenario if bills concede. 

 

Bengals would have shot at 1st with a win and a bills loss and KC loss 

 

KC would have a shot at 1st with win and with bills loss 

Bengals have a shot at 2nd seed with win and KC loss 

[Warriorspikes51]

3 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

 

I think along your lines.  The Bills may come out with a statement that they will forfeit.  Say the league offered them a chance to replay and they declined.  

 

It just helps the league out of a tricky situation with the Bills taking the hit.  The Bills were behind and it was a Bills player that went down.  Plus there were rumors that McD wasn't bringing the team back out no matter what the league said.

 

While the Superbowl odds may decrease, the overall Bills brand will shine.  And there will be an undercurrent of support Nationwide.

It was the 1st Quarter.  The circumstance was beyond the Bills control.  Punishing the team by basically forcing them to forfeit seems pretty poor 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Warriorspikes51

[Alphadawg7]

33 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

This completely screws up the logistics of 16 games.  We don't even know if stadiums are available the following week. 

Yeah it’s a logistical nightmare, but the integrity of the season feels bigger than worrying about logistics.  
 

Games could be set to any day that following week to accommodate stadium availability.  

[chongli]

1 minute ago, dma0034 said:

 

 

Well this game will 100% resume with the Bengals winning 7-3 with 6 minutes left. 

 

 

Why should the Bengals give up their home field advantage?

 

 

 

 

Do you think the Bengals would want to play on the same turf, starting at the same yard marker where the injury occurred?

[dma0034]

1 minute ago, chongli said:

 

Do you think the Bengals would want to play on the same turf, starting at the same yard marker where the injury occurred?

 

 

IF Hamlin is alive? Absolutely.

 

That probably came off as cold. I am hoping he makes a full recovery quickly

Edited January 3, 2023 by dma0034

[TheyCallMeAndy]

End it in a tie, but as far as my thinking goes this season is over until we get an update on DH. 

4 minutes ago, dma0034 said:

 

 

Well this game will 100% resume with the Bengals winning 7-3 with 6 minutes left. 

 

 

Why should the Bengals give up their home field advantage?

 

 

 

Then the Bills would have a day or two for NE preparations. 

[transplantbillsfan]

Is there news? I would think the league needs to inform the teams today considering this is a short week already for both of them and today is going to be spent praying for Damar.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

2 minutes ago, dma0034 said:

 

 

IF Hamlin is alive? Absolutely.

 

That probably came off as cold. I am hoping he makes a full recovery quickly

No we know what you meant, I don’t see any way this game is resumed that is fair to Buff/Cinci

[Nineforty]

23 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

I don't think the Bills organization will object to this decision.  Everything I've seen from the Pegulas, Beane, and McDermott tells me that they are mature adults who will bite the bullet on this because it's in the best interests of the league collectively.

 

Obviously I'd also be fine with giving both teams wins or going on winning percentages too.  I'm just pushing back on the argument that this game "has" to be made up.  It doesn't, and that's not even a good option.

every effort (as Im sure it is) should be made to have this game played

[Captain Caveman]

Just now, transplantbillsfan said:

Is there news? I would think the league needs to inform the teams today considering this is a short week already for both of them and today is going to be spent praying for Damar.

 

I'd be surprised if the League announces anything publicly before there is an update on Hamlin (unless it's that the game won't be played)
And from what I've seen there is unlikely to be any significant news (positive at least) until late tonight or tomorrow.

With that said, my guess is there are internal discussions on how to handle it and the Bills and Bengals (and possibly other teams as well if there are competition questions) are looped in.

[SinatraSinger]

WHAT WOULD DAMAR WANT?

 

If he is the competitor that I believe him to be.  If he cared about the outcome of this game, which I am sure he did.  If he went to battle week after week with his fellow players, which we know he did.  If he cared about his fellow players, which I am sure he does, based on the fact that the other players obviously care about him.

 

Then in my opinion, he would want this came to be played and completed.  What ever the rest of us think is meaningless.   What would Damar want?

[BillsFanSD]

4 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Yeah it’s a logistical nightmare, but the integrity of the season feels bigger than worrying about logistics.  
 

Games could be set to any day that following week to accommodate stadium availability.  

"The integrity of the season" went out the window the second they postponed the game.  There is no actual way to set things right without disadvantaging somebody.  Postponing the game was the right decision, but now we're in a position of having to figure out how to choose among a variety of alternatives each of which is unfair to somebody.  

 

I'm always reluctant to make predictions about what the NFL will or won't do, but I'm very skeptical that the league will rearrange the entire rest of the season when they could just call it a forfeit or tie or whatever and be done with it.  

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

13 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

 

I think along your lines.  The Bills may come out with a statement that they will forfeit.  Say the league offered them a chance to replay and they declined.  

 

It just helps the league out of a tricky situation with the Bills taking the hit.  The Bills were behind and it was a Bills player that went down.  Plus there were rumors that McD wasn't bringing the team back out no matter what the league said.

 

While the Superbowl odds may decrease, the overall Bills brand will shine.  And there will be an undercurrent of support Nationwide.

The bills were behind but getting the ball to start the second half so that really doesn’t mean anything.  Given how easily we were moving the ball too it could’ve easily been a double dip scenario 

 

I find it hard to believe the bills were losing that game…any thought of ‘they should be happy if it goes down as a tie’ or ‘they wouldve lost the game if Hamlin didn’t get injured anyway so why not take the extra rest’ is not necessarily accurate imo.  It was going to be a shootout and the bengals have an immobile qb with a timebomb at RT.

Edited January 3, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[ALLinALLEN]

1 minute ago, SinatraSinger said:

WHAT WOULD DAMAR WANT?

 

If he is the competitor that I believe him to be.  If he cared about the outcome of this game, which I am sure he did.  If he went to battle week after week with his fellow players, which we know he did.  If he cared about his fellow players, which I am sure he does, based on the fact that the other players obviously care about him.

 

Then in my opinion, he would want this came to be played and completed.  What ever the rest of us think is meaningless.   What would Damar want?

Weird to say "what ever the rest of us think is meaningless" but post your complete asserted opinion of what YOU think he thinks....

[Greg S]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

"The integrity of the season" went out the window the second they postponed the game.  There is no actual way to set things right without disadvantaging somebody.  Postponing the game was the right decision, but now we're in a position of having to figure out how to choose among a variety of alternatives each of which is unfair to somebody.  

 

I'm always reluctant to make predictions about what the NFL will or won't do, but I'm very skeptical that the league will rearrange the entire rest of the season when they could just call it a forfeit or tie or whatever and be done with it.  

 

Push back the playoffs a week. Play week 18 as scheduled and the following week (what would have been WC weekend) let the Bills and Bengals resume their game.

[Pabstblueribbon]

I think the NFL will reschedule this game to tomorrow/Thursday night and push the respective teams upcoming games further into next week. From there it will likely be buffalo's decision whether they want to forfeit or play. The circumstances and optics are horrible but it's the least intrusive way to try and contain this and minimize impacting the rest of the league IMO.

 

 

[Airseven]

Best case scenario, albeit unlikely, is restarting the game on Thursday and pushing BUF/NE and CIN/BAL to next Tuesday. Short of that, I think the only "fair" outcome here is to have the Bills forfeit the game. 

[T.E.]

The more I think about it, the only scenario that seems plausible is the league offering a make-up date to continue the game, and the Bills declining and choosing to forfeit.

 

Any other scenario disadvantages too many other teams and, while that is far from the most important issue right now, it simply is something that won't be entertained in the name of competitive integrity.