What Bengals & Chiefs fans are saying about the situation:

[ChasBB]

20 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The idea that the game could complete while Damar Hamlin was in an induced coma fighting for his life was for the birds I am afraid. Forget the Bills for a second I don't think the NFL was ever going to let that happen. Would have been an atrocious look for the league. 

 

It was a non-option. 

You make good points.

[UKBillFan]

25 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The idea that the game could complete while Damar Hamlin was in an induced coma fighting for his life was for the birds I am afraid. Forget the Bills for a second I don't think the NFL was ever going to let that happen. Would have been an atrocious look for the league. 

 

It was a non-option. 

And I think there would have been a lot of push back if the NFL had given the Bills a forfeit too. Especially as, as you say, there are rules in place which, as far as the Bills situation goes, was followed.

 

For the organisation’s sake, I hope the Bengals win today. For the fan’s sake, I hope they lose. Couple that with a Bills win and the latter would have taken the second seed anyway IIRC, even with defeat at the Jungle.

[GunnerBill]

6 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

And I think there would have been a lot of push back if the NFL had given the Bills a forfeit too. Especially as, as you say, there are rules in place which, as far as the Bills situation goes, was followed.

 

For the organisation’s sake, I hope the Bengals win today. For the fan’s sake, I hope they lose. Couple that with a Bills win and the latter would have taken the second seed anyway IIRC, even with defeat at the Jungle.

 

I hope Cincy wins today because the coin toss with the Ravens bit is the one part of the NFL solution that I genuinely feel uncomfortable with. The no-contesting of a game still in its 1st quarter and using win % to decide seeding are both completely in accordance with the rules. 

 

The neutral venue AFC Championship is the other bit that falls outside the normal rules but felt like a pragmatic solution to a difficult problem

 

[Dan Darragh]

OP would probably prefer my JV football coach who didn't let us drink water during practice because he said it would make us too soft.

[Shortchaz]

There’s still plenty of time for McDermott to ruin the season, it just won’t be because of how he handled that situation.

[UKBillFan]

9 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I hope Cincy wins today because the coin toss with the Ravens bit is the one part of the NFL solution that I genuinely feel uncomfortable with. The no-contesting of a game still in its 1st quarter and using win % to decide seeding are both completely in accordance with the rules. 

 

The neutral venue AFC Championship is the other bit that falls outside the normal rules but felt like a pragmatic solution to a difficult problem

 

I do feel uncomfortable about the coin toss so the perfect solution would be the Bengals to lose the game and win the toss - then they have very little to gripe about.

[Irv]

If you're bored, look up how the in-ring death of WWF wrester Owen hart was handled.  Anybody who thinks that game should have continued is a class A moron.  

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Irv

[Wayne Cubed]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The idea that the game could complete while Damar Hamlin was in an induced coma fighting for his life was for the birds I am afraid. Forget the Bills for a second I don't think the NFL was ever going to let that happen. Would have been an atrocious look for the league. 

 

It was a non-option. 

 

Yea, after what happened with Christian Erikson, who left the pitch breathing on his own and was awake an hour later so slightly different, there is no way the NFL was going to carry on with the game. I think UEFA got it massively wrong and basically gave the Danes an ultimatum. Those players were no where near ready to play and that was after Erikson was awake and able to communicate to his teammates.

If the NFL went ahead and continued the game or even tried to play the game the next day, with Hamlins condition not changing, the backlash would have been massive.

[GunnerBill]

Just now, Wayne Cubed said:

 

Yea, after what happened with Christian Erikson, who left the pitch breathing on his own and was awake an hour later so slightly different, there is no way the NFL was going to carry on with the game. I think UEFA got it massively wrong and basically gave the Danes an ultimatum. Those players were no where near ready to play and that was after Erikson was awake and able to communicate to his teammates.

If the NFL went ahead and continued the game or even tried to play the game the next day, with Hamlins condition not changing, the backlash would have been massive.

 

Agreed. It might in theory have been a decision available to them. But it was in theory only. In practice that was off the table. Had Hamlin been awake and talking an hour after, maybe. But the fact is he was in an induced coma and that situation was not going to be any different by Tuesday evening. 

[Wayne Cubed]

1 minute ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agreed. It might in theory have been a decision available to them. But it was in theory only. In practice that was off the table. Had Hamlin been awake and talking an hour after, maybe. But the fact is he was in an induced coma and that situation was not going to be any different by Tuesday evening. 

 

I get the Bengals and Bengals fans are upset but really all that's changed for the Bengals rules wise is the coin flip. Go out and beat the Ravens, and let's be honest they should be able to do that considering their QB situation, and literally nothing changes for them. There was no way they could be awarded the victory having played all of 8 mins in a game, so it was going to have to come down to win %. That being the case, they had no shot at the 1 seed and still could get the 2 seed. I don't really so why they are upset.

 

A part of me thinks the angst from Bengals fans now is that Hamlin appears to be ok and recovering well. Making it seem like they could have finished the game because everything turned out ok.

[UKBillFan]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Cubed said:

 

I get the Bengals and Bengals fans are upset but really all that's changed for the Bengals rules wise is the coin flip. Go out and beat the Ravens, and let's be honest they should be able to do that considering their QB situation, and literally nothing changes for them. There was no way they could be awarded the victory having played all of 8 mins in a game, so it was going to have to come down to win %. That being the case, they had no shot at the 1 seed and still could get the 2 seed. I don't really so why they are upset.

 

A part of me thinks the angst from Bengals fans now is that Hamlin appears to be ok and recovering well. Making it seem like they could have finished the game because everything turned out ok.

Also bear in mind that, according to Burrow, some Bengals players on Wednesday were talking about not playing against the Ravens. Yet some Bengals fans think they would have continued in the same frame of mind if they played on on Monday?
 

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/zac-taylor-bengals-move-focus-ravens

[Wayne Cubed]

1 minute ago, UKBillFan said:

Also bear in mind that, according to Burrow, some Bengals players on Wednesday were talking about not playing against the Ravens. Yet some Bengals fans think they would have continued in the same frame of mind if they played on on Monday?
 

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/zac-taylor-bengals-move-focus-ravens

 

Yea it all seems to have changed with Hamlins condition changing. He's ok, so now we can be pissed off and feel hard done and all of that stems from the fact they are certain they were going to beat the Bills.

[Buddo]

In the rareified atmosphere of the unfolding emergency, it's no great surprise that there are conflicting messages coming over at times.

 

All of that 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' nonsense, is just that - nonsense.

 

There was never a chance that that game was going to be completed that night. There was no way that it could have been finished on the Tuesday, due to the ongoing critical nature of Damar's situation.

 

The NFL suspended the game that night, and pretty soon after made the decision to cancel it entirely.

 

Thing is, if the NFL hadn't cancelled it, the NFLPA might have refused to let the players finish it, either on the night, or the following day.

 

As to the Bills leaving, that wasn't going to make any difference, as the game wasn't going to be able to be played by the Tuesday anyway.

 

Just on this MB, there are enough medical professionals kicking around, who would tell you that there wasn't going to be any news about Damar for a couple of days.

 

Let alone the guys employed by both teams, and the NFL, who were no doubt saying the same thing.

 

 

[PoBills33]

Well it was nice to see everyone united for a few days..thats clearly over.  Had Hamlin died in the hospital since what displayed on the field no one would have said anything.  Now thats hes had an amazing recovery we are being demonized for this it seems..

 

Honestly I'd rather us just come out and take the loss if we can than listen to the endless bitching that has already started from this.

[IndyMark]

So much going on in this thread, but realizing a coin toss starts the game means that a coin toss is an acceptable way to make a decision.  It is goofy to think a coin toss is some how, now, unfair or "not right".

 

Life is not "right" nor fair; it is amusing to see people complain and bicker about issues like this......particularly when no one truly knows what the processes or discussions behind the scenes were or went.

 

The game is an entertainment activity, be entertained with all of this.

 

There was zero chance this was going to be done "right"....and to see NFL coaches, even fans, rush to make a claim they got the most "screwed" on this, all things considered is not a good look and shows poorly on them.

 

Go. Play. The. Game.

 

If you are that good you win. Regardless of locale.

[Mango]

4 hours ago, UKBillFan said:

And I think there would have been a lot of push back if the NFL had given the Bills a forfeit too. Especially as, as you say, there are rules in place which, as far as the Bills situation goes, was followed.

 

For the organisation’s sake, I hope the Bengals win today. For the fan’s sake, I hope they lose. Couple that with a Bills win and the latter would have taken the second seed anyway IIRC, even with defeat at the Jungle.

Agreed, the league couldn’t give the Bills an L. The Bills could have taken one that night and the nobody would have batted an eye though. 
 

Once the league turned the game to “postponed” that was off the table. 

[SaulGoodman]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:35 AM, IndyMark said:

So much going on in this thread, but realizing a coin toss starts the game means that a coin toss is an acceptable way to make a decision.  It is goofy to think a coin toss is some how, now, unfair or "not right".

 

Life is not "right" nor fair; it is amusing to see people complain and bicker about issues like this......particularly when no one truly knows what the processes or discussions behind the scenes were or went.

 

The game is an entertainment activity, be entertained with all of this.

 

There was zero chance this was going to be done "right"....and to see NFL coaches, even fans, rush to make a claim they got the most "screwed" on this, all things considered is not a good look and shows poorly on them.

 

Go. Play. The. Game.

 

If you are that good you win. Regardless of locale.

 

But the entire purpose of this intervention was to make things "fair." If you're going to have a potential AFC title game at a neutral site, it would seem to be fair to have a potential Bills/Bengals game at a neutral site too. 

 

 

[The Wiz]

31 minutes ago, SaulGoodman said:

 

But the entire purpose of this intervention was to make things "fair." If you're going to have a potential AFC title game at a neutral site, it would seem to be fair to have a potential Bills/Bengals game at a neutral site too. 

 

 

Neither the bills or Bengals gained or lost an advantage by the game not being played.  KC did.

[jkeerie]

On 1/8/2023 at 6:06 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

I hope Cincy wins today because the coin toss with the Ravens bit is the one part of the NFL solution that I genuinely feel uncomfortable with. The no-contesting of a game still in its 1st quarter and using win % to decide seeding are both completely in accordance with the rules. 

 

The neutral venue AFC Championship is the other bit that falls outside the normal rules but felt like a pragmatic solution to a difficult problem

 

I think the reason both these provisions, coin toss and neutral site was because there were only two teams in control of their own destiny going into the end of the season.  If the Bills won out, they win the AFC and the number one seed.  If the Ravens won out, they win their division by virtue of the tie breaker over Cinci.  Everyone else...Chiefs and Cinci...needed a loss by another team to get the number one seed.  So, without the Bills/Bengals game completion, the Bills and Ravens lost their opportunities.  On the basis of the win percentage, Chiefs were awarded the number 1 seed with a win in the final week, and the Bengals, their division, irrespective of what happens in the final week.  So...the competition committee decided that the AFCCG would be neutral if the Bills and Chiefs meet...as an accommodation for losing their opportunity to control their own destiny.  They decided on a coin-flip for the Ravens/Bengals, if the Ravens won as an accommodation for losing their opportunity for the division.

 

So...in my eyes, no one was "screwed," and the appropriate actions were taken starting with cancelling the game.