NFL 2022

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Of course most importantly I wish good thoughts for Hamlin.
Was announced the game will not be resumed/played this week. My guess is Bills/Bengals gets played week 19 and the playoffs get pushed back a week - then no "bye"/"off" week before the Super Bowl.

[twocoach]

Of course most importantly I wish good thoughts for Hamlin.
Was announced the game will not be resumed/played this week. My guess is Bills/Bengals gets played week 19 and the playoffs get pushed back a week - then no "bye"/"off" week before the Super Bowl.

That sounds like the most reasonable solution that is fair to all teams involved and affected. You can't just cancel it.

[pdub]

If you do that:

A. Do you start it from where the game ended 7-3 mostly through 1st quarter?
B. All the other NFL playoff teams will essentially get a bye, as the only game going on will be Bills/Bengals. If the Bengals win, and the Chiefs won, the Chiefs would have two weeks off.

[twocoach]

If you do that:

A. Do you start it from where the game ended 7-3 mostly through 1st quarter?
B. All the other NFL playoff teams will essentially get a bye, as the only game going on will be Bills/Bengals. If the Bengals win, and the Chiefs won, the Chiefs would have two weeks off.

A. I think that is the best way to do it. Those plays happened.
B. It's the solution I have heard that seems to be the "least crappy" way to handle it. No solution exists that doesn't result in downstream ripples to multiple teams. It's not ideal but the NFL will figure out some way to get games happening again.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I haven't thought this through at all, so it could very well be a very stupid question, but what are the negatives to calling it a no contest?

[NewtonHawk11]

Bills have no chance to be the 1 seed as long as KC wins their game. It would likely go off of winning percentage and Bills would be behind KC.

But they will have to make a decision by like Thursday. Can't drag this out too long.

[pdub]

But making a weekend where just the Bills/Bengals play affects the entire rest of the NFL and not just two teams.

[NewtonHawk11]

Which is why I think they don't play the game at all.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Also seems like a pretty big logistical challenge to move the entire playoffs back. Maybe not.

To make this about me, I'm in Vegas Jan. 28 and 29, and while I don't care who is or is not playing that weekend, I imagine it's going to be a different place whether its divisional round or conference championships. Guessing many have scheduled trips all over the country based on the NFL schedule that has been set for a long time now.

[jfish26]

I think what's happening is the league is going to let Week 18 play out and then reassess.

If, after Week 18, the #1 seed and the other six playoff teams are set (regardless of the BUF/CIN outcome), then I think you call BUF/CIN a no-contest and apply tiebreaker principles where necessary to sort seeding #2-#7.

If the #1 seed is not set, or the playoff field is not set, then you play BUF/CIN in "Week 19", and push everything else back a week (eliminating the off week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl).

[NewtonHawk11]

I think what's happening is the league is going to let Week 18 play out and then reassess.

If, after Week 18, the #1 seed and the other six playoff teams are set (regardless of the BUF/CIN outcome), then I think you call BUF/CIN a no-contest and apply tiebreaker principles where necessary to sort seeding #2-#7.

If the #1 seed is not set, or the playoff field is not set, then you play BUF/CIN in "Week 19", and push everything else back a week (eliminating the off week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl).

Can you really leave Buffalo and Cincy hanging by a thread like that though? All the TV schedules are in place, the stadiums are reserved, the Super Bowl festivities are all set.

As sad as it is, I don't think that the league will bow down to Cincy or Buffalo.

[pdub]

I think unfortunately it has to be a no contest, no matter the results this weekend.

While the Bengals cannot get the 1 seed, they lock in the AFC North title.
And while the Bills would need the Chiefs to loose to get the 1 seed, they were loosing to the Bengals in the game, 7-3, and the Bengals had the ball, so this is certainly better than calling the game as is.

Pushing things back will be a logistics nightmare, will affect hundreds of thousands of people's travel plans, and will change the way the Super Bowl is set and played.

And it would bring a scenario where most the NFL would have a bye week before the playoffs.
And possibly give both NFC and AFC champs 2 weeks off - which also might not be fair to them.

[jfish26]

I think what's happening is the league is going to let Week 18 play out and then reassess.

If, after Week 18, the #1 seed and the other six playoff teams are set (regardless of the BUF/CIN outcome), then I think you call BUF/CIN a no-contest and apply tiebreaker principles where necessary to sort seeding #2-#7.

If the #1 seed is not set, or the playoff field is not set, then you play BUF/CIN in "Week 19", and push everything else back a week (eliminating the off week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl).

Can you really leave Buffalo and Cincy hanging by a thread like that though? All the TV schedules are in place, the stadiums are reserved, the Super Bowl festivities are all set.

As sad as it is, I don't think that the league will bow down to Cincy or Buffalo.

It's not a bowing down issue (it's also not a stadium issue - with the exception of two shared stadiums, neither of which will be an issue in the playoffs, none of the stadiums have other tenants).

I'm not talking about moving the Super Bowl, either.

My point is that we know right now that BUF/CIN can't be played this week. We know right now that you can't push all of Week 18. We know that you can't move the Super Bowl back.

So, if you're going to play CIN/BUF, the only way to do it is between Week 18 and the playoffs (and then you'd have to spike the gap week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl).

What I'm saying is that, after Week 18, we'll have a MUCH clearer view on the implications of calling BUF/CIN a no contest. And THEN you can decide if all the trouble that would come from pushing the playoffs back a week, so as to resume BUF/CIN, is worth it.

[DrPepper]

Really terrific work by the EMR staff in Cinnci.

How do you know that the EMR did really terrific work? We don't know anything about what they did. Handling a heart attack seems like something every ER does every day, no? It just seems like an odd thing to say.

[Sparko]

Emergency medical response staff at the stadium. They restored his pulse and vital signs from what I understand. In precarious circumstances. Recent discussions reinforce this:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/damar-haml ... rrest/#app

[NewtonHawk11]

These were all team doctors and trainers, not ER people at first. They train for this annually, sure, but they also don't experience daily like the front-line nurses, EMT, ER staff and even doctors do.

Team doctors and trainers being that quick and assertive when it's something that doesn't happen daily to them is quite incredible.

[Sparko]

These were all team doctors and trainers, not ER people at first. They train for this annually, sure, but they also don't experience daily like the front-line nurses, EMT, ER staff and even doctors do.

Team doctors and trainers being that quick and assertive when it's something that doesn't happen daily to them is quite incredible.

I am in awe of the entire medical staff and the ambulance EMTs. Hoping it was in time.

[ousdahl]

[CrimsonNBlue]

Bills say Hamlin is trending in the right direction. Great news and a source we should be able to trust.

[NewtonHawk11]

Yep. Ian Rappaport saying he is opening eyes and squeezing hands when asked. Big time signs of improvement. Neurological functions seem to all be there as well. Just seems they are worried about lungs (maybe punctured during CPR..?)