UKBillFan

If only I was an elite person. You failed to answer the question. ETA - In fairness, Mango’s response is far better than mine.

I really need to sleep, so just to answer the thread title, I think the Bills would forfeit but the Patriots wouldn’t necessarily be given a win. They would stay on 16 games and the play off positions would be worked out on a tiebreak basis.

How about losing out on the Pats game not going to have an overall impact, as it will just be replaced by a play off game anyway - one which is not guaranteed at the start of the season?

We’re talking about one game. The Bills will have at least one game in the play offs which, in August, was not guaranteed. And no one seemed to bring up the issues of family members on the breadline losing out when the Browns game was switched to Detroit.

Personally I think the majority of people who take on violent or dangerous jobs get into a position where they don’t consider their own mortality - otherwise they would change paths.

I don’t think players go out there thinking “I could die here”. I doubt many even set much stall by the more likelier outcome of paralysis or concussion. Not only are they concerned for a friend, I think it is possible events on Monday woke some up about their own mortality, considering how innocuous the tackle was which led to Damar’s cardiac arrest. It would never happen but I wonder what would be the next step if every single Bills player decoded to retire tomorrow? They have every right to do so but it’d be difficult to play the game which must go on.

Whatever happens in week 18, there will be some weight on Bills-Bengals. There is no set of outcomes where it won’t have some kind of impact on seedings.

I think it was Happy Days who made the comment earlier - players are prepared for bad injuries up to the point of paralysis and severe concussion. But a player suffering a cardiac arrest on the field is completely different to any of that, and certainly different from seeing a dead stranger in a RTA. Life does go on and will go on. But it is up to the players and coaching staff to individually decide the pace it will happen and, as a fanbase, the least we can do is support whatever decision they make rather than belittle them if they make the ‘wrong’ one. As I said before, I think the Bills will play the Patriots on Sunday but I doubt every physically available player will turn out.

For Bills fans, yes, to a degree. But not necessarily for the fans of the Bengals or the Ravens.

The Chiefs losing wouldn’t reduce the importance of the Bills-Bengals result. Whatever mix of results in week eighteen, there will be something riding on it.

I wish people would stop comparing NFL players to emergency workers or members of the armed forces. Massive credit to all who serve, but it comes with a completely different expectation to what is normal and abnormal. Sitting on backsides saying THEY MUST PLAY is hardly the kind of ‘support’ I expected from the majority of Bills fans considering what happened on Monday night. It feels akin to telling the players and coaching staff to man up and stop grizzling.

In terms of conference record, if the Chiefs, Bills and Bengals all win then the Chiefs would be 9-3, the Bills 9-2 and the Bengals 8-3. The Bills would have one up on the Chiefs due to head to head but the system would be potentially depriving the Bengals of a chance to get the one seed, as if they beat the Bills they’d be 9-3 after defeating both of their nearest rivals. There are no set of week 18 results which would lock down the seedings, which is the issue the NFL has.

I think the Bills will play the Patriots. Will it be a full roster of available players? That I have doubts about.

And it is for the players and coaching staff to decide. Not for any of us to decide for them.

In that scenario, the game would “need” to be played from the point of view of the Ravens. Though the Bills would probably field back ups as they’d have nothing to play for.

The only issue is how does the NFL respond to a no contest? I presume winning percentages to decide the seeding order. As long as the Bengals beat the Ravens on Sunday this won’t affect any other team - if the Chiefs beat the Raiders they’ll have the better winning percentage; if they lose and the Bills beat the Pats then the Bills will have the better winning percentage. The problem would be if the Ravens beat the Bengals. By winning percentage, the Bengals would still hold the three seed over the Ravens.

One thing I’d say about playing the game - if we do so, let it be a Thursday night game rather than a Sunday night. Give another couple of days to recover before the Wildcard round. The big question is is the week’s gap between the Conference Championships and Super Bowl needed? The neatest thing would be to remove it.

Though it’s only a rumour at this stage. If the Chiefs beat the Raiders and Bengals beat the Ravens I’d be tempted to said the back ups to Cincinnati at forget about the number one seed.

We’re playing the Bengals to round off the regular season. The remaining AFC teams in the play offs get a bye.

There’s more on Bengals-Ravens that Patriots-Bills, though obviously there’s an emotional connection for many to the latter.

Yes. Is it much worse than the seventh seed managing it?

To negate the advantage of the number one seed; to lessen it's importance. Do that and it's easier to waive Bengals-Bills, particularly if the Benglas beat the Ravens on Sunday.

Just to say, Hendrickson, not Hutchinson. Both plays should be cited. If either had resulted in serious injury I would have no sympathy for the defensive player like I do Tee Higgins right now.

Though, in this scenario, plans wouldn’t be disrupted beyond Chiefs, Bengals or Bills possibly not getting to play one or two games at home despite holding a weakened number one seed. And the Bills were forced to play a home game elsewhere in the regular season to start with. Plus two further teams get a shot at the play offs. In fairness, the title of the OP is “if Bills-Bengals is not replayed”.

The other possibility is for the NFL to change the structure of the Play Offs. Open the Play Offs to eight teams rather than seven, and scrap the bye for the first seed. In the AFC, if/when the Chiefs, Bengals and/or Bills meet, the game/s will be held on a neutral field. That negates much of the first seed advantage and placings can then be decided by win percentage without completing Bills-Bengals.