Boatdrinks

Other teams moves/ players are always superior for some on this board…

This is pretty much how it works. Doesn’t Dorsey have a history with Carolina as well ? Maybe they really like the guy and he’s familiar to them.

While the Bengals may have had a legitimate beef about the coin toss scenario, I’m surprised there’s an undercurrent of belief from fans that they should get a neutral field vs the Bills ; they should not. The BUF/ CIN game was cancelled: officially did not happen. The Bengals and Bills played the same amount of games and the Bills had a better record. There was no situation to resolve with a neutral field if those teams were to meet. The neutral field proviso was to address a few scenarios in which the Chiefs could face either the Bills or Bengals in the AFC Championship with the latter having played 16 games vs KC’s 17. The Chiefs won their final game so there is no longer a neutral site scenario for an AFC title game involving the Bengals.

True. If MIA were playing KC the board would say “ Man , those Chiefs have a cakewalk game ! “ The Bills draw MIA , and it’s “ I don’t know about you, but this game scares the daylights out of me ! “

Agreed. I think it’s only zoom interview until then but still…

I think he’s aware of that Ta, he just wondered if the agreed upon proposal had a stipulation for that matchup.

That is correct.

The logic is that the NFL cancelled BUF/ CIN. It never happened. They weren’t going to deal with ifs, buts , candy or nuts when it came to those teams. The records were what they were : the Bills had one more win. Now, when it comes to the Chiefs , the Bills had a chance to maintain their claim to the 1 seed regardless of what KC did. That was denied them by the cancellation. The Bengals would have needed a KC loss. To remedy the Bills situation somewhat , the neutral site AFCC game provision was adopted. It was provided for CIN as well but only if KC lost. This was more sensible than coming up with every scenario possible IF BUF/ CIN would have been played . It was simply cancelled and they washed their hands of it . Makes perfect sense to me.

I think it’s definitely possible. Playoff time : win or go home.

McKenzie

Disagree, regardless of their numbers- too affected by the vagaries of the home/ away schedule. I don’t think you can underestimate the difference between a neutral site AFCC vs a trip to Arrowhead for the Bills. Don’t forget the Bills played 1 less game than the Chiefs.

The NFL likely consulted with the Bills about making up the game. They determined to move on with the playoffs as a scheduled. We won’t know , but we do know they were prepared to forfeit. They won’t get a bye , but at that point they hadn’t earned it. They did okay one less game than KC at the end of the season , so it’s not completely different than getting a bye a week before the Chiefs. A neutral site championship is an enormous accommodation to the Bills circumstances and seems a fair compromise to me.

Hoping to hear some new information on this soon. They’re not going to wait until the divisional round to name the location ; at least I don’t think they would. From a Buffalo perspective I’d prefer Charlotte or MIA/ ATL. Easy flight from BUF and weather won’t or shouldn’t impact the game.

Think of it this way: if the exact same scenario were reversed with Bills / KC would you believe the Bills should get the bye ? I believe the overwhelming response would be yes.

I don’t think the Bills and Bengals can meet in an AFCC game with the seeding as it is. Divisional round only , and it will be played in OP if it happens.

Agree. Definitely not an a$$ kicking… these were tough , close games that were completely in doubt into the final minutes.

Moving both was never going to happen and wasn’t a proposal being considered. We don’t know if they would have declined , but they had the opportunity to resume the game within two days according to reports and did not want to- even if it meant a forfeit. A later date would have meant the scenario I mentioned with a possibility of going from 1 to 3 then facing a rested opponent. Im not sure how the Bills would have approached such a scenario. Anyway, the league voted to not alter the schedule and to cancel BUF/ CIN. I never heard any reports that the Bills were insisting on making up the game: the Bengals said they’d do whatever the Bills wanted. We can infer a lot form this.

I’m not saying they offered that scenario. They generally would require it to be made up in two days. They didn’t want to push the playoff schedule back or alter the entire playoff formula. They considered diluting the playoff field with an 8th team per conference or alternating conference byes while making up Bills/ Bengals in week 19. Im glad they didn’t go forward with these ideas. The Bills would have played the Patriots, then the Bengals and possibly played a playoff game vs a team coming off a bye the next week. If presented with that situation they mY have just rested players for two weeks and went into the playoffs as the 3. The game wasn’t going to be made up in two days due to the Hamlin situation and making it up in 2 weeks was problematic and perhaps a huge disadvantage. If BUF/ CIN was originally in week 14 I believe it would have been made up. It was too late in the schedule for a practical make up scenario.

The Bills were ready to forfeit the game : they didn’t care about playoff implications. They cared about their teammate, friend , and brother that was critically injured.

So McDermott reportedly said the game wasn’t going to continue even if it meant the Bills had to forfeit. You don’t think the league consulted with the Bills ( and Bengals) on the possibility of making up the game? A league executive told Schefter that the game had bad mojo and they wanted to move on. Was that just the NFLs opinion or did that come from “ taking the temperature of the room” in Buffalo. What indication do you need ? They’re not going to come out and share all the details. You have to read between the lines here.

While it’s not a perfect solution - and there wasn’t one due to time constraints … I don’t think the league should have altered the entire playoff schedule .. it’s the most fair. The Bills were reportedly ( and understandably) not going to continue the game - even if they had to forfeit. Now , that would have been some pretty poor optics for the league if they went that route. KC won their last two games. We don’t know if the Bills would have , but there’s no guarantee they would have defeated CIN that night. The 2 seed and neutral AFC title game if they should happen to play KC seems fair to me. The Bills don’t get a bye, but they also played 1 less game. Fair enough

Ravens too 1 PM W

As the 2 seed I think they should get a normal practice week/ schedule and I’m glad they did

I think they get the WC weekend off… I’m expecting Ian Eagle and Davis edit : guess I was wrong !!

I hope you’re right , but I’m not seeing it as of late. I can’t expect it’s going to materialize in the playoffs and we have a better chance of the offense finding a groove.