BLeonard

That's why I said before, if you're splitting the bye and HFA, you don't have any "neutral field" nonsense. That would nullify the advantage the team that receives HFA would get, if they would have to play at a neutral site anyway.

How you gonna give two teams a bye with 8 teams involved? You'd have 6 teams playing and 2 on a bye. The 6 teams play 3 games, producing three winners. 3+2 = 5

Doesn't make sense to split the 1 seed benefits AND have the AFC Championship at a neutral site. If KC, for example, chooses the bye, then the Bills should get HFA throughout, regardless of who's playing. 8 teams with two byes means 6 teams playing 3 games on WC weekend, producing 3 winners. Meaning there would be 5 teams in the divisional round. So, that wouldn't work, unless you can find a way to have three teams play in one game.

It's coming soon, I'm pretty sure:

There's your answer. New season, new bottle. Also, obviously, NEVER pull a bottle out again until the clock is at triple zeroes. Can't agree with keeping the bottle. Keeping it too close to a new bottle could pass on bad juju.

https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals-sports-nfl-football-0aaf8589e7bc364a6625b19eb48f3233 No new news on playoff status.

What have you done in the past? Like, what happened to the bottle from the 2020 AFC Championship Game?

Not necessarily. If the Bills lose and the Bengals win, the Bengals would get the #2 seed based on the strength of victory tiebreaker.

Or, Bengals/Chiefs. That's how I am reading it as well. That said, I also read this as either/or. Either they're gonna have the AFC Championship at a neutral site, if two of those three teams are involved, OR the #1 seed gets a choice between home field and a bye, while the #2 gets the other. It makes no sense for the Chiefs to get to choose a bye or HFA, only to have the game at a neutral site, if 2 of the Bills, Bengals and Chiefs are in it. If the Chiefs choose the bye, the Bills should get HFA, regardless of who they play.

They'd also have a chance to lose the AFC North to the Ravens. The Bills/Bengals game not being played essentialy hands the division to the Bengals. I get that no solution is gonna be victim proof here. That can't be avoided. A couple teams are gonna get a bit burned here. What CAN be done is to split the benefits of the 1 seed in half to balance things a bit. If the Bills and Chiefs win, KC would then get the choice of a bye or HFA. The Bills get the other. If the Bills and Chiefs lose, while the Bengals win, you could again split the HFA and bye between KC and Cincy. If the Bills and Bengals win, while the Chiefs lose, the Bills get the 1, while you could have KC choose between having the 2 or 3 seed, based on the matchup, or having HFA if the Chiefs and Bengals meet in the divisional round. Again, at least every team would have something to play for, while not weighing one seed over the other as dramatically as it would be normally.

The issue Baltimore would have is that, if they beat Cincy on Sunday, they'd have beaten them both times and only have one more loss. But, the Bengals would be awarded the division based on better winning percentage, despite playing less games. Pittsburgh can still get in. This only affects their chances if the Bills rest starters vs NE due to not being able to get the 1 seed. If I had to guess, I'd say the Bills will want to put their best effort forward for Damar and the chance of locking down the 2 seed at minimum. I don't see KC getting the #1 seed as a "small benefit." They'd be getting a bye AND HFA. The fact that the Bills and Bengals BOTH beat KC head to head make it an even bigger benefit. Again, there's no 100% fair way to do it, but I'm leaning towards, if KC is getting the 1 seed that way, they should have to choose between having the bye or HFA, not both. IMO, this is about as fair as you can make it, without disrupting everything. If KC beats the Raiders and the Bills beat the Patriots, they'd each have 3 losses. Due to the extra game, KC would have a higher winning percentage. So, they get the choice of either HFA or a bye to the divisional round. The Bills get the other. The team that got the bye would then have to go on the road if the two teams met in the AFC Championship. It also helps ensure that all of the games this weekend still have at least some level of importance, so nobody is playing backups. At least, in that situation, KC isn't just being handed the #1 seed and all of the benefits that go with it.

Oh, I don't disagree that it's a better solution than shoehorning the game in. Just kinda sucks that, after all of the focus on getting the #1 seed, it's gone because of this and the one team that both the Bengals and Bills beat head to head is the beneficiary. Thinking about it more, I'm curious why they couldn't use another metric besides winning percentage, since there would be an uneven amount of games played. Why not strength of victory? At least that would allow the uneven number of wins to be weighted in an even metric. Another idea that I've seen floated is to split the benefits of the #1 seed between two teams if all three win this weekend. Give KC the option of either HFA OR the bye. The Bills would get the other. As I've said in other posts, there's no clean, simple answer and some team (or teams) are gonna get shafted a little here.

Well, they cut Rhodes today, so guessing that's a no. In all seriousness, the discussion has been had elsewhere and we're in uncharted territory. I don't recall a suspended game ever being resumed at a later date, so no idea what the roster rules would be. I would THINK that, if they were to resume the game, the teams would be limited to who was on the active roster when the game started, but again, that's just my guess and, to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing in the rulebook about it, either.

Really sucks that the Chiefs would benefit here, especially since they lost to both the Bills and Bengals, but it's also most likely the easiest solution.

Forfeit? I doubt it. Rest starters? Quite possible. Even though the #2 seed doesn't get a bye, they would still get HFA in the divisional round, so it's not exactly a "nothing to play for" situation.

In most cases, like weather delays, they pick up where they left off. However, we're in uncharted territory here. I'm not aware of a game that was postponed and NOT completed that same day. I recall reading somewhere that the game is to be resumed within two days of it's stoppage. Well, we're past that point now. I would GUESS that, if the game is played, it would start from the point they left off, but that is only my guess. Questions also arise from the gameday rosters. What if a guy on the gameday roster is hurt or released when the game resumes? Can the team name a replacement, or do they essentially play shorthanded? Or, vice versa, if a guy was hurt or not on the team on gameday, but is healthy on the resume date, can he play? Long story short, there really isn't an answer, at least that I'm aware of, that covers this particular situation.

Not to mention, if KC beats the Raiders, the Bengals can't get the #1 seed regardless. Why would they bother playing, knowing they have a playoff opponent coming off of a bye the next week whether they win or lose?

So, if the Chiefs get the #1 seed, they'd get two weeks off (week 19 & 20) and the Bills and Bengals have to play a playoff game the next week, while their opponent had a bye. Seems unfair to the Bills and Bengals, while rewarding every other AFC team. In that scenario it's better for the Bills and Bengals to skip the game altogether. That way, at least their opponents in the playoffs don't get a bye, while the Bills/Bengals game is happening.

As has been stated by others, you're essentially giving every playoff team besides the Bills and Bengals a bye week. That's a pretty sizeabale disadvantage for the Bills and Bengals. Also, if KC were to get the #1 seed, they'd get two weeks off. I'm guessing the Bills and Bengals would rather not play than try to shoehorn in a game while every other playoff team is resting at home.

I mean, I could be wrong, certainly. But, I'm guessing that if they're going to continue from the point the game stopped, they'd have to use the same rosters. Now, if, for whatever reason, they decided to start the game over (which I don't see them doing) the teams would submit new gameday rosters. We're obviously in uncharted territory here, as I don't think a game has ever been suspended and continued at a later date, but this is also the same league that forced Denver to start a WR at quarterback not too long ago, so who knows what they'd do? All that said, I don't think the game is being resumed, regardless. At this point, to do it, you're upending the entire playoff schedule. My guess is the league wants the solution that keeps the original schedule intact as much as possible.

I would assume that the active gameday rosters would be locked in. I mean, there's been talk of Hyde coming back, but if this game is rescheduled, I doubt he'd be allowed to participate, even if healthy and cleared. On that same note, Hubbard for the Bengals wouldn't be allowed to play, either. The unknown here is Taron Johnson. I get that Hamlin's situation is far more serious, but we don't know Johnson's situation, or at least I haven't heard anything. I would guess he WOULD be allowed to play if able, as he was on the gameday roster. Bengals wouldn't get the #2 seed even with a KC loss and a win over Baltimore. KC would be 13-4, while Cincinnati would be 12-4. The only way the Bengals get the #2 in that scenario is if the Bills lose to NE, as the Bengals would win the SOV tiebreaker over the Bills for the #2 seed. If the Bills/Bengals game isn't played, some team, in some form or fashion, will get the short end of the stick. Not saying that it should be played, just saying that, if it isn't, the lack of a game result there is gonna affect a team or two.

I saw it live on the broadcast and it was a bit disturbing, especially with how long Thibodeaux was doing the snow angels. Actually surprised he wasn't penalized for taunting. While I don't disagree about him not knowing at the time of the snow angels, this also happened:

I know most everyone's mind is elsewhere, but just realized that today is the 30th anniversary of the (now former) Greatest Comeback in NFL history against the Oilers.

So, KC gets a bye, the Bills play the Bengals, but both advance to the next round, while 4 plays 7 and 5 plays 6? You'd have KC, BUF, CIN and two other teams in the divisional round. How you gonna have games with 5 teams?

Wouldn't work anyway. 2 byes and 6 tams playing three games gives you 5 teams remaining at the end of the first weekend. Dunno how you go from 5 teams to two for the AFC Championship the following week.