Playoff Solutions Assuming they don’t replay the Bengals game.

[BRH]

I haven't read all the suggestions, but my son just said this:

 

- Don't play this game.

- Cancel the KC-Raiders game next Sunday because the Raiders are out of the playoffs and KC has already won their division.

- Let Cincinnati and Buffalo play their games because they involve a division title (in Cincinnati/Baltimore's case) and a playoff berth (in New England's case).

 

No playoff games are eliminated or moved.

 

I kind of like it.  It's completely unfair to give KC the 1 seed outright because of this game being canceled.  KC already played their game this week and won.  Let Cincinnati and Buffalo have their games next week.  Then all three teams have played 16 games and the 1 seed/bye can be more fairly decided.

[Dr. Who]

Just now, Nineforty said:

or they could play the game asap. I know it's tough. and I think the players/coaches should be the ones making this decision. But I do think many are underestimating the will some of the players would have to play. 

 

with the family making a statement later, that probably would go a long way towards how the players would feel about that.

Unless there were really good news coming out sooner than seems plausible, I can't imagine the players being anywhere near wanting to play.

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

 

There is ZERO chance the Bills are playing 2 games in 5 days then possibly a playoff game 6 days after any Monday night game. 
 

I said this last night I’ll say it again.  If the updates on Damar are still critical, there will not be any games this weekend.  

 

NFL would wipe out there week 18 if he's still in a coma?

 

that's not going to happen.

[dave mcbride]

10 minutes ago, BBills_88 said:

Give both Buf and Cin a Tie.

Allow 1 more team the playoff a spot for this scenario. and give the 1 & 2 seed a BYE week. 

 

Next week's game will count 

That's actually a really good solution that has the added benefit of making another fanbase happy. No one loses!

[26TrapDraw]

18 minutes ago, Pabstblueribbon said:

I think the NFL will reschedule this game to tomorrow/Thursday night and push the respective teams upcoming games further into next week. From there it will likely be buffalo's decision whether they want to forfeit or play. The circumstances and optics are horrible but it's the least intrusive way to try and contain this and minimize impacting the rest of the league IMO.

 

 

I’m thinking it will go along these lines or something like it. As gutted as we are for Damar it was our player and the whole league has to abide by the same set of rules. If there is a disadvantage unfortunately it should be the Bills that get it in trying to finish this game. If it’s back in Cincy Thursday with 8 min left in first quarter with the score being 7-3 then the Bills will need to suck it up and play as harsh as that is and as heavy hearted as they will be I’m sure it is the fair way this goes down.

[Boatdrinks]

1 minute ago, BeefCurtns said:

I’m thinking it will go along these lines or something like it. As gutted as we are for Damar it was our player and the whole league has to abide by the same set of rules. If there is a disadvantage unfortunately it should be the Bills that get it in trying to finish this game. If it’s back in Cincy Thursday with 8 min left in first quarter with the score being 7-3 then the Bills will need to suck it up and play as harsh as that is and as heavy hearted as they will be I’m sure it is the fair way this goes down.

In such a scenario the Bills could decide to ( not “ have to” ) forfeit the game and that would be fine. 

[dma0034]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

That's actually a really good solution that has the added benefit of making another fanbase happy. No one loses!

 

It's not though because the Bengals wouldn't get a bye despite having the game at home and up 7-3 to jump to the 2 seed.

 

You go that route you need to do 9 teams and they should be locked in now. Pats, Dolphins, Steelers. 

 

Round 1:

Steelers at Jags

Dolphins at Chargers

Pats at Ravens

[90sTillNOW]

Dont know how true .

[Einstein's Dog]

6 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Assuming the ‘it was mcdermotts decision to not put his players out there to finish the game’ point is true ,  there’s no way I’d even consider doing anything to be an nfl company man after the actions of last night if I were McDermott.
 

Good point.  No need to help out the league in that case.

 

I don't mind the Tie/win percentage route.  Kind of hurts Cincy in a little and helps KC some, because if KC/Cincy/Bills win, then the order would be KC/Bills/Cincy.

 

Still seems like a cleaner/better move than all these complex extra game scenarios.

[SinatraSinger]

2 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

In such a scenario the Bills could decide to ( not “ have to” ) forfeit the game and that would be fine. 

Why do so many people think it would be OK to forfeit the game.  Do you really think that Damar Hamlin would want his team to forfeit the game, I certainly don't.

[Fleezoid]

10 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

The league might allow the Bills to forfeit the Bengals game, but I doubt they allow them to forfeit the Pats game. The outcome of that game affects the Steelers and Dolphins as well.

 

Agreed. Teams play meaningless games at the end of every season. I understand this is a different situation with the player's mindsets.  I just can't see the league allowing the game to go un-played

[DapperCam]

The league will offer the Bills another date to resume the game and it will be up to the Bills to forfeit or play IMO. Other solutions require too many other moving parts.

[Boatdrinks]

1 minute ago, SinatraSinger said:

Why do so many people think it would be OK to forfeit the game.  Do you really think that Damar Hamlin would want his team to forfeit the game, I certainly don't.

It would be okay if that’s what the TEAM wanted - which may very well be the case. McD would obviously have a good read on this by talking to his players. Perhaps they would decide otherwise and that would be fine too.. if that’s what they wanted to do 

[Airseven]

4 minutes ago, DapperCam said:

The league will offer the Bills another date to resume the game and it will be up to the Bills to forfeit or play IMO. Other solutions require too many other moving parts.

 

Exactly right, likely Thursday.

[BillsShredder83]

10 hours ago, Buffalo Ballin said:

Yeah. What's so difficult about it? Just get it over with.

 

Can't gift Kansas City Chiefs anything.

No one gets hurt in this process and can move on quickly to the next game.

Doesn't hurt the schedule.

Neither us or Cincinnati have an unfair advantage with the coin flip. It's a neutral process.

Cinci can have all the compassion in the world and not like this IMO. Obv it was very early, amd they were winning, looking like they had better stuff.

If something happens where Cinci pushes back against this, i think itll be unfair to make them out t9 be the bad guy. Theres just no good answers here. 

Regardless, Bengals coach has my full respect. I think a lot of coavhes woukd be tempted to accept a forfeit.... seems like he stepped up and "refused to play", helping us avoid an outright forfeit. Glad to see blame deflected at NFL FO, where it belongs

[LabattBlue]

The Bills refusing to play and forfeiting the game(taking a loss) would be a really bad look for the NFL.  I am positive the league will come up with a solution to avoid a “forfeit”. 

[SinatraSinger]

3 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

It would be okay if that’s what the TEAM wanted - which may very well be the case. McD would obviously have a good read on this by talking to his players. Perhaps they would decide otherwise and that would be fine too.. if that’s what they wanted to do 

I can't see the TEAM wanting to forfeit the game.  The game may be forfeited but it would not be the TEAM making that decision.  It would be higher up the food chain making that decision.  I don't think for one second that Damar would want this game forfeited which is why the TEAM will not want to forfeit.

[Since1981]

I would forfeit on principle. travel again for a game tomorrow? and play Sunday?  Lose both? Goodell is a tool. 
 

the bills have been thru the wringer this month. It’s nuts. They even illegally drove home. I’d stand up for my guys and say “no” 
 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Since1981

[BLeonard]

9 minutes ago, BRH said:

I haven't read all the suggestions, but my son just said this:

 

- Don't play this game.

- Cancel the KC-Raiders game next Sunday because the Raiders are out of the playoffs and KC has already won their division.

- Let Cincinnati and Buffalo play their games because they involve a division title (in Cincinnati/Baltimore's case) and a playoff berth (in New England's case).

 

No playoff games are eliminated or moved.

 

I kind of like it.  It's completely unfair to give KC the 1 seed outright because of this game being canceled.  KC already played their game this week and won.  Let Cincinnati and Buffalo have their games next week.  Then all three teams have played 16 games and the 1 seed/bye can be more fairly decided.

It's not a bad solution on the face, but without the Bills/Bengals result, the Ravens cant' win the North even if they beat Cincy.  Baltimore would be 11-6, while Cincy would be 11-5.

 

On top of that, I highly doubt they cancel the Chiefs/Raiders game, especially since it's the first game Saturday.  It's also not meaningless for fans that bought tickets and made plans to attend.

 

Any way you slice it, some team somewhere is gonna get the short end of the stick.  I just don't see a way to avoid it.

 

At this point, the easiest way that I'm seeing is to just not play BUF/CIN and play week 18 as scheduled.  If KC beats the Raiders, they'd be the #1 based on win %, essentially punishing the Bills.  If the Bills win, they'd be the #2, essentially punishing CIN.  Baltimore gets a bit of a punishment by not having a chance to win the division, but they're still in the playoffs at least.  KC would be rewarded, but every other team involved remains unaffected.

 

Again, really no way to avoid a scenario that is fair to everyone and doesn't affect a number of teams, but at this point, it may be the way to minimize the fallout.

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, DapperCam said:

The Bills didn’t have lodging in Cincinnati. They had to fly home. Why would they stay 2 nights there anyway if it were moved to Wed night?

 

I’m not advocating for it, I just think that is what the NFL is going to push the teams to do.

 

If they didn’t have Rooms for Monday night to stay over what are the chances today or tomorrow they can book 100s of rooms to come back.  Logistically they make these reservations as the schedule is being shared not at the last minute.

 

If they end up trying to force the game to be played - Which I believe the NFLPA will nix do to player mental state - it will require Buffalo to fly in and out the same day and I can not imagine the mental state the Bills would be in having to quickly flip around like that and return to the field the incident happened on.

 

Leadership on the team wouldn’t allow it - so the NFL will be forced to review other options and work with the teams and my guess is they will agree that canceling is best and that if it means KC has the #1 seed - the teams will deal with that.

 

 

[pigpen65]

The game is currently suspended, it wasn't cancelled, so common sense is that it will be resumed tonight or tomorrow. If the Bills choose to not play the rest of the game, which is completely understandable, it will be a forfeit and a loss. It all seems straight forward enough to me. And if that's what happens that's what happens. Move on.

[Boatdrinks]

Just now, SinatraSinger said:

I can't see the TEAM wanting to forfeit the game.  The game may be forfeited but it would not be the TEAM making that decision.  It would be higher up the food chain making that decision.  I don't think for one second that Damar would want this game forfeited which is why the TEAM will not want to forfeit.

Couldn’t disagree more. Who is this “higher up” that would make such a call? If you don’t think the Bills would do in this case what the TEAM-  i.e the players -wants to do then you just don’t understand the culture that McD and Beane have built at OBD. 

[ALLinALLEN]

1 minute ago, SinatraSinger said:

I can't see the TEAM wanting to forfeit the game.  The game may be forfeited but it would not be the TEAM making that decision.  It would be higher up the food chain making that decision.  I don't think for one second that Damar would want this game forfeited which is why the TEAM will not want to forfeit.

I don't understand the fixation you have with "Demar would want them to play" as A.) you dont know that, B.) It doesnt matter if he does or doesnt (which he clearly cant comprehend or care about right now or ever.

 

It's not like the NFL and Roger are basing the decision on if the injured player wants them to play or not....cmon.

[Airseven]

1 minute ago, Since1981 said:

I would forfeit on principle. travel again for a game tomorrow? and play Sunday?  Goodell is a tool. 
 

the bills have been thru the wringer this month. It’s nuts. They even illegally drove home. I’d stand up for my guys and say “no” 
 

 

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.

[Just Jack]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

No one here is going to like a solution that gifts KC the #1 seed, but the best solution is to cancel the game, and use winning percentage to determine standings. 
 

A coin flip?  Seriously? 

How about this.  11 on 11 dodgeball.  Best out of three games.  
Bengals offense vs Bills defense

Bills offense vs Bengals defense

Third game if needed, pick any 11 players from the team.  

[JMM]

6 minutes ago, Airseven said:

 

Exactly right, likely Thursday.

Thursday? Thursday. Please think about what happened last night, and what the team experienced.  They would go back in 36 hours and play a game in a place where they just experienced incredible trauma, then turnaround and play again on Sun. The NFL can't be that stupid, and if they are then I'm done. This suggestion itself is ridiculous 

[DapperCam]

1 minute ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

If they didn’t have Rooms for Monday night to stay over what are the chances today or tomorrow they can book 100s of rooms to come back.  Logistically they make these reservations as the schedule is being shared not at the last minute.

 

If they end up trying to force the game to be played - Which I believe the NFLPA will nix do to player mental state - it will require Buffalo to fly in and out the same day and I can not imagine the mental state the Bills would be in having to quickly flip around like that and return to the field the incident happened on.

 

Leadership on the team wouldn’t allow it - so the NFL will be forced to review other options and work with the teams and my guess is they will agree that canceling is best and that if it means KC has the #1 seed - the teams will deal with that.

 

 

I think the Bills forfeiting is the best in that scenario, because if KC and CIN lose next week, then the Bills can still be #1 seed.

[Airseven]

1 minute ago, Boatdrinks said:

Couldn’t disagree more. Who is this “higher up” that would make such a call? If you don’t think the Bills would do in this case what the TEAM-  i.e the players -wants to do then you just don’t understand the culture that McD and Beane have built at OBD. 

 

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

[Caesar]

5 hours ago, Trekking said:

1. Cancel the game.

2. Give both teams a win. KC loses the tie breaker versus both teams by losing a head to head against both earlier this season. It’d be very unfair to give them the advantage because of what happened here. By giving both teams a win, the last game of the season for all three teams still matter.  And let’s be honest, these two teams are going to play again. 
3. Give cinci home field in afc championship game if it’s between them and buffalo

This is a logistics nightmare.   Cancelling the game altogether with no winner impacts so many teams.  If the game isn't replayed I guess Im for the final score being what it was when the game was suspended.... but Im a Bengals fan and this might not be the most popular idea here.

[NickelCity]

10 minutes ago, SinatraSinger said:

I can't see the TEAM wanting to forfeit the game.  The game may be forfeited but it would not be the TEAM making that decision.  It would be higher up the food chain making that decision.  I don't think for one second that Damar would want this game forfeited which is why the TEAM will not want to forfeit.

 

You're working too hard to make it seem like you're just channeling Damar's wishes. It's speculation to think that the team is able to rally and play, let alone want to (and for a specific reason). 

Edited January 3, 2023 by NickelCity

[BRH]

5 minutes ago, BLeonard said:

It's not a bad solution on the face, but without the Bills/Bengals result, the Ravens cant' win the North even if they beat Cincy.  Baltimore would be 11-6, while Cincy would be 11-5.

 

Ah, that's the piece I missed.  Sorry.

 

I still think that because there are three teams in play for the 1 seed, every effort should be made to ensure that they've played the same number of games.  I think it would be logistically easier to cancel KC/Raiders than to make Cincy and Buffalo play this game (which would probably push their week 18 games farther into next week, affecting two more teams.)

 

But I recognize the prism through which I am looking at all of this.

[The Firebaugh Kid]

If I'm the NFL, I add another week of the season for this game. So the playoffs are pushed back 1 week. 

 

 

[SinatraSinger]

3 minutes ago, ALLinALLEN said:

I don't understand the fixation you have with "Demar would want them to play" as A.) you dont know that, B.) It doesnt matter if he does or doesnt (which he clearly cant comprehend or care about right now or ever.

 

It's not like the NFL and Roger are basing the decision on if the injured player wants them to play or not....cmon.

I believe that what Damar would want is all that should matter to his fellow players.  Yes I understand that Damar can't speak at the moment, but I believe that these guys get to know each other and they know what he would want in this situation.  I also believe that Damar would want them to play.  So if the vote goes to the players then the game will not be forfeited.  That is my opinion, which is worth as much as yours right now.  We will have to wait and see what actually happens.

[Warriorspikes51]

If the Bills play Thursday and then Monday,  the league could consider giving the 2 seed a bye and allowing an 8th team into AFC playoffs 

 

[BRH]

1 minute ago, Caesar said:

If the game isn't replayed I guess Im for the final score being what it was when the game was suspended.... but Im a Bengals fan and this might not be the most popular idea here.

 

You think?

[Chicagobills]

I highly doubt Damar would want the team to forfeit the game. I totally get ppd the game last night until we get hopefully good news on Damar but at some point a decision has to be made on the game. I don't like Goodell but this is a very tough spot for the NFL right now. The human side of our sport has to be #1 and pray Damar is ok but at the same time the league must move forward 

[Airseven]

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.

[Success]

The latest they could reschedule the game for is tomorrow. No way they're having a game Thursday, and then Sunday.  And there is no way they push the Pats game to Monday, shortening rest right before the playoffs begin.

 

I guess we'll find out soon enough.  

[ALLinALLEN]

Just now, SinatraSinger said:

I believe that what Damar would want is all that should matter to his fellow players.  Yes I understand that Damar can't speak at the moment, but I believe that these guys get to know each other and they know what he would want in this situation.  I also believe that Damar would want them to play.  So if the vote goes to the players then the game will not be forfeited.  That is my opinion, which is worth as much as yours right now.  We will have to wait and see what actually happens.

Well the difference is that I would never want to assert I know what another person's opinion is, and make a decision that they'd play based off that assertion. That's where I think you're wrong. 

[zow2]

It's an unprecedented situation.  I think there should be a phone call behind the scenes with all the owners...or at least the AFC owners to take a vote on how to handle this.  Maybe lay out a few different scenarios and come to some consensus.