HappyDays

Nah. They had a chance to beat the Bengals or Bills and fell short. That's on them. Here's how I look at it - the Chiefs as of the stoppage of play on Monday night did not control their own destiny for the #1 seed. Now they do. POSSIBLY losing homefield advantage to one potential opponent in one game of the playoffs is MUCH better than not controlling your own destiny for the #1 seed. No question they came out of this ahead.

Holy crap! This is about as good an outcome as we could have hoped for at this point, right?

Correct. We blitzed too often on that first drive including on the TD. Not only did we blitz but we didn't get even a whiff of pressure. I don't understand why that was our game plan because Burrow is one of the best QBs in the league against the blitz. Maybe Frazier was setting things up for later? That has been the defensive trend this year, look like butter on the first drive and then start to clamp down as the game goes along. I think people are being way too harsh on Tre for what amounted to two plays. He clearly isn't playing at his ceiling right now but he also hasn't totally dropped off a cliff. He got straight up beat by Ja'Marr Chase on one play, which happens to every CB, and then he got exposed by a poor blitz call. Like everything else about that game it is useless to try to draw meaningful conclusions from such limited game time.

Yes their fans are all over social media whining because they think the Bills lost to the Bengals in the 1st quarter and therefore they are the rightful #1 seed with all the advantages that it comes with. Obviously a ridiculous thing to say but that's their stance. They think the Bills manipulated the league's sympathy to get a free advantage.

There unfortunately is no fair solution. I think the NFL tried to make it equally unfair for everybody which is the best they could do. Personally I think what makes it worse for fans of the Bills, Bengals, and Ravens is that the Chiefs barely got any kind of disadvantage. Maybe having to play in the AFCCG on a neutral field after being handed the bye? That's nothing compared to the other teams. But ultimately a man almost died on national TV so I just don't have it in me to complain. Maybe for non-Bills fans it doesn't hit the same way because it wasn't a player on your team. Be happy Hamlin is going to be okay and your team has a chance to win a Super Bowl.

They scored a TD on the opening drive and had gotten exactly one 1st down on the 2nd drive. The Bills defense always looks soft early. To me it looked like a game that was going to come down to the wire. Both offenses moved the ball at will on the first drive, one finished with 7 one finished with 3. There's nothing you could possibly project about the rest of that game based on that early result. The NFL is too volatile to make projections after one half let alone two drives.

You know when I first heard the coin flip idea I thought it was the worst idea yet. But the more I've thought about it, it would have been the best solution. The game was looking like a coin flip anyways. Instead of screwing over a bunch of teams they should have just randomly assigned a winner and moved on. I'm surprised they decided to make it so convoluted.

Bengals will be mine and I would think every Bills' fan 2nd team in the playoffs this year. The frustrating about the Chiefs is they really didn't earn the #1 seed. They got every opponent at their worst, we got every opponent at their best. The Chargers (twice) before they got hot. The Titans starting Malik Willis. The Texans missing Dameon Pierce and Brandin Cooks. The Rams starting Bryce Perkins and missing Cooper Kupp. The Broncos for a full half starting Brett Rypien. The Raiders starting Jarrett Stidham this weekend after having one week of his film to study. They also lost to the #2 and #3 seed in the conference. No way they earned a playoff bye and more favorable matchups.

It's an acceptable solution, really about as good as it can be. Fans of different teams will complain but an unprecedented situation took place and a young man nearly died live on national television. There was never going to be a clean path forward.

A black cloud has hung over me since Monday. I haven't been fully myself. After the past couple hours I can breathe again. Whatever happens next with this season I am at peace.

They'll be ready.

As expected.

If amything I feel bad for the Bengals if that is the solution because they won't control their destiny for the #2 seed. But any solution would be unfair to at least one team so it is what it is.

I'm getting very emotional at work right now. The medical professionals that got Hamlin to this point will never get the amount of appreciation they deserve.

This thread got really hostile. That's disappointing. I expect the Bills players to show up and play, there's really no other choice, but I have no expectations about how well they will play. I think it will take one game to ramp up and get themselves 100% focused on the sport again. Against a team fighting for their playoff lives I'm not expecting a victory in that scenario, nor do I care about the outcome. I'll tune in just to watch the team show up as a unit and get the ovation they deserve. Interestingly the league's decision on the Bengals game may impact our approach to this game. If the reports are correct that the Bengals game will be declared no-contest I would be fine if the Bills rolled into the Pats game with very little game planning and starting a lot of backups. Use week 18 as a pseudo bye week and hopefully get some good news on Hamlin over the next week. Then roll into the playoffs likely as the #3 seed with the team fully focused, rested, and able to think about something other than how their teammate's recovery is going. That to me is the ideal scenario.

There's a really important distinction in what you're referring to and what actually happened, though. Hamlin wasn't in a serious car accident for example. He was almost killed playing the same sport that these players subject themselves to every week, on a seemingly innocuous hit. What they witnessed is not just something that happened to a colleague, it is an extremly tangible experience for them. It would be more like your truck driver colleague is in a nearly fatal car accident because the brakes in his truck failed, and now you have to drive your truck provided by the same company a few days later. A little bit of extra time off would be understandable. Chris Simms made a great point today, speaking as a former player - cardiac injury is not something that NFL players have internalized as a risk. Everyone knows about head and neck and spine injuries. Mentally and emotionally they've prepared themselves for that risk. This is a totally novel case where a hit these players make/take dozens of times a week almost killed a young man in a terrifying and public way. It's an entirely different avenue of risk that every NFL player is now mentally grappling with, especially the Bills and Bengals players that saw it firsthand. Sitting from the comfort of my living room I can think rationally that since this is the first time something like this has happened in the modern NFL era, there's no use dwelling on the risk of it happening again. But it's understandable if some of the players need a little extra time to make their peace with that.

It has been two days since they watched their teammate die on the field. My biggest concern for this game is the Bills players and coaches being mentally and physically prepared after a short week made shorter. But I don't expect the game to be delayed. If the Bills come out flat and lose I'm at peace with that.

The thing I don't like about this is the Bills and/or Bengals would have to play against a team coming off a bye on wildcard weekend.

I saw a few journalists on Twitter say that the hospital was supposed to give an official update, but then the hospital came out and said there was no update to give yet. So there will hopefully be one at some point.

Pick the first 8 minutes of any Bills game this year and see how much it matches up to the ultimate result. Ridiculous post.

Still no official update on his status unfortunately.

I suspect at this point the league is waiting for some kind of official update from the hospital on Hamlin's status before making any announcements about the game or playoff seeding. There's no need to rush.