NFL won't resume Bills-Bengals game, impacting AFC playoffs

By The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)January 6, 2023

Jan. 6—The NFL has decided not to resume Monday's game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, which was suspended after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after making a tackle in the first quarter.

The news comes after doctors announced that Hamlin has made "substantial improvement" in his recovery. The 24-year-old Bills safety is moving his hands and feet, communicating through writing, and appears to have all his neurological function intact, doctors said.

The decision to cancel the game will have an impact on the AFC playoffs, with the league using winning percentage — and not win-loss records — to determine the postseason seeding.

As a result, the NFL will hold a special league meeting on Friday to consider approval of several scenarios to address the competitive balance of the Bills and Bengals playing less games than the Kansas City Chiefs, which can now clinch the No. 1 seed simply by winning Saturday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The first item owners will consider is having the AFC Championship game hosted at a neutral site if the unequal number of games prevented one of the teams from hosting the game. Those circumstances involve the Bills or Bengals qualifying for the game as a road team, and include:

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Bills and Chiefs both win or both tie in Week 18: A Bills-Chiefs championship game would be at a neutral site.

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Bills and Chiefs both lose and Baltimore wins or ties: A Bills-Chiefs championship game would be at a neutral site.

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Bills and Chiefs both lose and Cincinnati wins: A Bills or Bengals vs. Chiefs championship game would be at a neutral site.

The second item involves the Baltimore Ravens. If the Ravens defeat the Bengals on Sunday, they will have beaten Cincinnati twice but still won't win the AFC North due to the two team's winning percentages. As a result, the Ravens won't have the opportunity to host a playoff game, so owners will decide on two scenarios:

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Ravens defeat the Bengals in Week 18, and both are scheduled to play in a wild-card game: The site for the game would be determined by a coin toss.

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Bengals defeat the Ravens in Week 18, or if the Ravens and Bengals are not scheduled to play in a wild-card game: The site would be determined by the normal procedures.

"As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "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."

AFC playoff picture

Here's the AFC playoff picture heading into Week 18:

y — Kansas City Chiefs (13-3, first in AFC West)

y — Buffalo Bills (12-3, first in AFC East)

y — Cincinnati Bengals (11-4, first in AFC North)

Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8, first in AFC South)

x — Baltimore Ravens (10-6, second in AFC North)

x — Los Angeles Chargers (10-6, second in AFC West)

New England Patriots (8-8, second in AFC East)

x: clinched playoffs; y: clinched division

In the hunt: Miami Dolphins (8-8), Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8), Tennessee Titans (7-9)

Updated AFC playoff scenarios