Airseven

The usual

It's not hard to believe. He's washed. They threw a dart and it didn't stick.

In reality, you’re probably right. But personally, I wouldn’t want that first championship after being gifted home field advantage without beating the Bengals (assuming the Chiefs and Bengals win this weekend). It would always be apart of the conversation. And I wouldn’t have wanted the first championship during the COVID year either.

Eliminating the extra week before the Super Bowl was always a possibility. It just seems the logistical challenges would outweigh the benefit. Although I wonder if that extra week is built in, in part, for exactly these types of unforeseen circumstances since the Super Bowl behemoth is impossible to move.

I hope so. And I think I agree. But why?

I hope it isn't the case and I don't think it would be fair to other clubs, but the league could always cop out by letting Sunday's games occur before making a decision about this game. If it no longer impacts the #1 seed after Sunday, then obviously it's easy to call a no contest. If the #1 seed is still in play, the game is resumed next Thursday.

I agree the resolution of this game absolutely needs to be determined before Sat. I thought for sure an option to resume the game would be suggested for Thurs/Fri (and obviously this weekend’s Bills and Bengals games pushed to next Tues/Wed). Perhaps it was and the Bills declined, who knows. We’re in very curious territory now and really interested to hear what the NFL decides. There’s no easy way out.

Exactly. It’s shock in the moment and concern thereafter. It’s traumatic for those who must remain directly involved and have something to lose, particularly a loved one. Concern for the player shouldn’t waver.

They’re professionals. Their job is to play football. The game on Monday was suspended appropriately. Now move forward while a teammate receives high class medical care. The people facing real trauma is Hamlin’s family. Not fans. Not media. The well-being of his teammates continues to be addressed in reasonable fashion.

The Hutchinson roll was bush league. He literally springboards himself with his hands. I doubt he was aiming to take Allen’s knees out. But he certainly flailed into him to create abandoned and reckless contact. That’s no way to play either.

Yes indeed, the result of all this may very well be the Bills losing the #1 seed.

Why do people think that if the game is re-started within a couple days that the Bills and Bengals would still play again on Sunday? Doesn't it make sense that those two games on Sunday would also be pushed by a couple days, creating a short week much like Sunday-Thursday scheduling? The league did this during COVID.

Good point. To play on Thursday could very well come down to a players vote.

Obviously this Sunday's games would be pushed by a couple days. It would be a short week, possibly back to back short weeks, just like Thursday games. The goal is to make the best of a terrible situation and not everything can play out fairly and evenly. Bills have had a chaotic year without question.

Exactly right, likely Thursday.

And you can pretend whatever you want. What I listed were facts. That's not to say the Bills couldn't win the game.

The point is not who was leading. The point is that the Bills were dealt a hugely unfortunate circumstance and the Bengals shouldn't be penalized in any way. Yes, losing an opportunity to overtake the Bills would be a unfair penalty to them.

We can tell that the Bills had few answers for the Bengals passing attack. Johnson and Hamlin went down and the Bengals were targeting the Bills' supposed best corner. This isn't the Bears who were gifted their scripted drive.

Best case scenario, albeit unlikely, is restarting the game on Thursday and pushing BUF/NE and CIN/BAL to next Tuesday. Short of that, I think the only "fair" outcome here is to have the Bills forfeit the game.

I’m not referring to Vegas odds. I’m referring to the reality of what was occurring on the field. I do understand this “neutral” outcome is the preference here because it prevents the Bills from getting beat.

It penalizes them. They were the favorite to win that game last night and were literally leading in the game.

I’m sure the Bengals would love that.

They’re not reformatting the entire playoffs because of this. A likelier fix is Buffalo/New England and Cincinnati/Baltimore will be moved by a couple days to allow for Buffalo/Cincinnati to resume later this week.

On what basis aren’t you convinced? Scott Van Pelt and CNN weren’t convinced either, but what does it matter? Perhaps the reflexive move was to re-start the game per SOP for prolonged stoppages, but upon further assessment and consult with the teams, they properly determined a delay/postponement was appropriate. And there were surely numerous levels of coordination throughout the process. And so what now? More virtue signaling? It’s far-fetched to assume the NFL was telling the players to play without regard to Hamlin’s condition.

A 5-minute warmup is likely SOP for prolonged stoppages. It clearly took some time to process the situation, coordinate and confer with the teams, and determine that a 5-minute warmup was futile. The appropriate decision was ultimately made.