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

[stlbills13]

The NFL never should have had the Chiefs game on Saturday. It never made sense other than to try to jam a popular player into an otherwise boring time slot. Now depending on what happens with the Bills/Bengals game, it could give the Bills no incentive to play their starters on Sunday which then could give the Patriots a win and a playoff spot all while eliminating the Dolphins, Steelers, and potentially the Jags. I know the Hamlin situation is unexpected and a one-in-10 million scenario but it still never made sense to have KC play on Saturday.

[Dick_Cheney]

3 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 So on the NFL Radio Murray/Gannon were just saying that in the end, life is not fair and therefore the Bills will suffer the most unfairness. They believe the NFL will call game a no contest, Chiefs win Sat and have a better winning % and get 1 seed.

 

Do you think the NFL would want to release this plan prior to the games? I'm not so sure

Really, really will dislike this solution if that's how they go.

 

Obviously if the Bills say "We just don't want to play this game, forget the 1 seed," then maybe it's okay. I would still rather either everything be pushed a week and the game is resumed, or both teams are awarded a Win so that in theory everyone stays in the spot they were in going into the week. It'd be unique, but it would make it so that every single game being played in the last week has huge meaning. I really don't understand why they don't just go that direction.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, Dick_Cheney said:

Really, really will dislike this solution if that's how they go.

 

Obviously if the Bills say "We just don't want to play this game, forget the 1 seed," then maybe it's okay. I would still rather either everything be pushed a week and the game is resumed, or both teams are awarded a Win so that in theory everyone stays in the spot they were in going into the week. It'd be unique, but it would make it so that every single game being played in the last week has huge meaning. I really don't understand why they don't just go that direction.

I'd settle for a coin flip, random number generator or Madden Simulation before the solution of KC getting the 1 seed.

4 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

The NFL never should have had the Chiefs game on Saturday. It never made sense other than to try to jam a popular player into an otherwise boring time slot. Now depending on what happens with the Bills/Bengals game, it could give the Bills no incentive to play their starters on Sunday which then could give the Patriots a win and a playoff spot all while eliminating the Dolphins, Steelers, and potentially the Jags. I know the Hamlin situation is unexpected and a one-in-10 million scenario but it still never made sense to have KC play on Saturday.

Agree, This is the key part IMO

[Dick_Cheney]

2 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

I'd settle for a coin flip, random number generator or Madden Simulation before the solution of KC getting the 1 seed.

Agree, This is the key part IMO

Yeah, agreed. I guess there's no perfect solution, but I don't want the game to simply be conceded. Basically the equivalent of accepting defeat and punishment for something traumatic that happened to the team. That leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, and I would hate for that to be hanging over whatever else happens regarding Hamlin, and obviously to a much lesser degree, the playoffs. It'd be pretty insulting.

[Manther]

7 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

The NFL never should have had the Chiefs game on Saturday. It never made sense other than to try to jam a popular player into an otherwise boring time slot. Now depending on what happens with the Bills/Bengals game, it could give the Bills no incentive to play their starters on Sunday which then could give the Patriots a win and a playoff spot all while eliminating the Dolphins, Steelers, and potentially the Jags. I know the Hamlin situation is unexpected and a one-in-10 million scenario but it still never made sense to have KC play on Saturday.

Another mistake by the NFL was having Titans/Jags flexed to Saturday and Packers/Lions flexed to Sunday night.

 

The purpose of flexing games was to make sure teams didn't know playoff implications prior to their games.

 

Titans/Jags only impact each other (with the exception of 3 teams losing) and should have been flexed to Sunday night.

 

Instead they have Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau vs the Lions Sunday night.

 

Seattle should be playing at the same time as GB/Det.

 

Seattle Seahawks play before GB/Det.

 

Playoff implications are...

 

GB wins they are in

Seattle wins and Detroit wins, Seattle is in

Seattle loses and Detroit wins, Detroit is in

 

So, if Seattle wins before the game Detroit has already been eliminated.  I think Detroit will still try hard, but, maybe not.

 

Not really fair to Seattle (by winning) to potentially demotivate Detroit to beat GB and lower their possibility of getting into the playoffs.

[GunnerBill]

37 minutes ago, Dick_Cheney said:

Really, really will dislike this solution if that's how they go.

 

Obviously if the Bills say "We just don't want to play this game, forget the 1 seed," then maybe it's okay. I would still rather either everything be pushed a week and the game is resumed, or both teams are awarded a Win so that in theory everyone stays in the spot they were in going into the week. It'd be unique, but it would make it so that every single game being played in the last week has huge meaning. I really don't understand why they don't just go that direction.

 

Because giving 5 playoff teams a bye and making 2 play is a bigger disadvantage to the 2 than them potentially having to play an AFCCG on the road. 

 

Calling it a no contest or a tie and using win % is the least bad option. 

[Not Applicable]

39 minutes ago, Dick_Cheney said:

Yeah, agreed. I guess there's no perfect solution, but I don't want the game to simply be conceded. Basically the equivalent of accepting defeat and punishment for something traumatic that happened to the team. That leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, and I would hate for that to be hanging over whatever else happens regarding Hamlin, and obviously to a much lesser degree, the playoffs. It'd be pretty insulting.

You can't give the Bills a win for a game that lasted eight minutes before ending with Buffalo trailing. At the end of the day, we chose not to finish the game (the 100% right decision), so we're going to have to be inconvenienced the most regarding the solution.

 

Being gifted homefield will, again, put a giant asterisk next to a possible Super Bowl win. Nobody wants that.

 

It's not really fair, and it sucks that this is the way it is, but there is also no plausible way that the Bills can be rewarded here.

[Airseven]

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.

[Since1981]

8 minutes ago, Airseven said:

cop out by letting Sunday's games occur before making a decision about this game.

They can’t do this. They have to decide before any NFL team touches a ball. Monday was unplanned. They MUST and I guarantee will answer the Buf/Cin case before Sat 4:30 EST. 

[Airseven]

2 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

They can’t do this. They have to decide before any NFL team touches a ball. Monday was unplanned. They MUST and I guarantee will answer the Buf/Cin case before Sat 4:30 EST. 

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

[HappyDays]

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.

[DrDawkinstein]

25 minutes ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

You can't give the Bills a win for a game that lasted eight minutes before ending with Buffalo trailing. At the end of the day, we chose not to finish the game (the 100% right decision), so we're going to have to be inconvenienced the most regarding the solution.

 

Being gifted homefield will, again, put a giant asterisk next to a possible Super Bowl win. Nobody wants that.

 

It's not really fair, and it sucks that this is the way it is, but there is also no plausible way that the Bills can be rewarded here.

 

Allow me to go on record, regardless of situation, I am totally fine with any "asterisk" any outsider wants to place on a Bills Super Bowl victory. No asterisk in previous history matters or gets discussed outside of us message board nerds. They dont matter. I'll take it.

 

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[Airseven]

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.

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 So on the NFL Radio Murray/Gannon were just saying that in the end, life is not fair and therefore the Bills will suffer the most unfairness. They believe the NFL will call game a no contest, Chiefs win Sat and have a better winning % and get 1 seed.

 

Do you think the NFL would want to release this plan prior to the games? I'm not so sure

 

This is what is going to happen and it is exactly what Troy Vincent meant by it might not be 100% equitable.

 

I know many Bills fans keep complaining about KC being potentially handed the #1 seed, but it is still significantly better than the league trying to find a way to squeeze in the Bills/Bengals game.

 

Yes it slightly hurts Buffalo, potentially slightly hurts Cincinnati in a bid for the #1 seed and slightly hurts Baltimore in a quest for the division hence the inequity.

 

I still think long term both the Bills and the Bengals will take this solution over the 2 of them having to squeeze a hard fought game in while their potential opponents rest.  It also mirrors their plan talked about during Covid - where if unequal numbers of games happened to be played - winning % would drive the decisions.

 

The final thing is that there is no way they are doing any of the other suggestions like a coin toss, lotto balls, calling the game a tie, or creating a new rule where someone gets the #1 seed, but the other team gets home field.  They just are not going to create something extraordinary and new for this situation.  
 

They will work within the confines of the rules they have - which does allow for a no contest (ideally they must try to get the game played and it should have minimal impact per the rule) and their Covid protocols of utilizing win % if unequal games played.

 

In the meantime- for everyone wanting a decision - the NFL is correctly working with the Bills to ensure they are ok and getting what they need and then they will begin to address the options with Bills/Bengals/League.  My guess is there will be 2: No contest and winning % or How can you guys get the game in and potentially play 3 games in 2 weeks or 3 games in 3 weeks - while all other teams play 2 games in 3 weeks.

 

 

45 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Because giving 5 playoff teams a bye and making 2 play is a bigger disadvantage to the 2 than them potentially having to play an AFCCG on the road. 

 

Calling it a no contest or a tie and using win % is the least bad option. 

 

Agreed 100% wish I could give 1000 👍

[Warriorspikes51]

14 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

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.

 

If KC remains the 1 seed....they get 2 weeks off

 

The 2 & 3 seed Bills & Bengals have to face  6 and 7 seeds coming off a bye week to prepare for them.....

 

This is a massive amount of upheaval because of 1 game.  Not a fan 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Warriorspikes51

[JaCrispy]

Flip a coin for Bills/Bengals 👍

[BillsFanSD]

39 minutes ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

You can't give the Bills a win for a game that lasted eight minutes before ending with Buffalo trailing. At the end of the day, we chose not to finish the game (the 100% right decision), so we're going to have to be inconvenienced the most regarding the solution.

 

Being gifted homefield will, again, put a giant asterisk next to a possible Super Bowl win. Nobody wants that.

 

It's not really fair, and it sucks that this is the way it is, but there is also no plausible way that the Bills can be rewarded here.

After the season the Bills have had, I don't think this is true.  This whole season has been one disaster after another.  If we somehow win a championship against all odds, it will be one for the storybooks. 

[Warriorspikes51]

1 minute ago, JaCrispy said:

Flip a coin for Bills/Bengals 👍

Better than most scenarios! 

[BRH]

13 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Allow me to go on record, regardless of situation, I am totally fine with any "asterisk" any outsider wants to place on a Bills Super Bowl victory. No asterisk in previous history matters or gets discussed outside of us message board nerds. They dont matter. I'll take it.

 

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

 

Holy *****, yes.

 

I could give a flying ***** what people think of our Super Bowl victory.

17 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

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.

 

But what happened to all the people who were saying that the league would never shift the playoffs and give Arizona only one week of Super Bowl festivities?

[Airseven]

1 minute ago, BillsFanSD said:

After the season the Bills have had, I don't think this is true.  This whole season has been one disaster after another.  If we somehow win a championship against all odds, it will be one for the storybooks. 

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.

[What a Tuel]

13 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

If KC remains the 1 seed....they get 2 weeks off

 

The 2 & 3 seed Bills & Bengals have to face  6 and 7 seeds coming off a bye week to prepare for them.....

 

This is a massive amount of upheaval because of 1 game.  Not a fan 

 

As opposed to eliminating teams from the playoffs or ceding the Chiefs the #1 seed by default? Who cares. Sometimes too much time off is a disadvantage.

 

It is the least bad solution. I don't know why people are getting pissy about bye weeks but ceding the bye week to the Chiefs...

[zow2]

24 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

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.

 

Agreed. You just can’t have the Bills/Bengals playing a week 19 game while one of them maybe both have to play week 20, while the opponent is sitting with their feet up chillin, studying film and healing up.

 

I’d rather the Bills be awarded the 3 seed now and be able to play the New England game as they see fit.

 

 

 

[Not Applicable]

3 minutes ago, What a Tuel said:

 

As opposed to eliminating teams from the playoffs or ceding the Chiefs the #1 seed by default? Who cares. Sometimes too much time off is a disadvantage.

 

It is the least bad solution. I don't know why people are getting pissy about bye weeks but ceding the bye week to the Chiefs...

Do you honestly think it's fair for the Bills to play the Bengals in a Week 19 scenario, lose, then play a rested and healthy Ravens or Chargers team coming off a bye, even though we'd be the higher seed? This is a much worse scenario for the team than being forced to forfeit the Cincinnati game, to be honest.

[BigDingus]

28 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

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.

 

That's still a better option than most. If the Bills win, they end up getting 2 weeks heading into the Divisional round anyway.

 

Sure, it's an inconvenience if they lose, but let's be real, the Bengals & the Bills are the only teams that reasonably should be inconvenienced by it. The minute the game was cancelled, the only teams that would ever have to makeup a game would be these 2. 

[billsfan5121]

Just now, Patrick Fitzryan said:

Do you honestly think it's fair for the Bills to play the Bengals in a Week 19 scenario, lose, then play a rested and healthy Ravens or Chargers team coming off a bye, even though we'd be the higher seed? This is a much worse scenario for the team than being forced to forfeit the Cincinnati game, to be honest.

I think what’s being overlooked is if KC, Buffalo, and Bengals win this weekend, bengals have no reason to play week 19, so they could rest and have their bye. Buffalo would seemingly win against backups and get their bye week 20. KC would now have their bye with the rest of the AFC, so essentially, the entire conference gets a bye but we get home field 

[What a Tuel]

3 minutes ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

Do you honestly think it's fair for the Bills to play the Bengals in a Week 19 scenario, lose, then play a rested and healthy Ravens or Chargers team coming off a bye, even though we'd be the higher seed? This is a much worse scenario for the team than being forced to forfeit the Cincinnati game, to be honest.

 

Yes, its fair. The Ravens have to play a rested Bengals team this week for their division? If the most harm done is an extra bye week for some teams, then this is a good solution. 

 

The only other solution that doesn't have a "it's not fair" caveat is making Buffalo and Cinci play 2 games in the next 6 days which wait for it....isn't fair.

 

Affecting bye weeks is the least problematic option.

Edited January 4, 2023 by What a Tuel

[Not Applicable]

1 minute ago, billsfan5121 said:

I think what’s being overlooked is if KC, Buffalo, and Bengals win this weekend, bengals have no reason to play week 19, so they could rest and have their bye. Buffalo would seemingly win against backups and get their bye week 20. KC would now have their bye with the rest of the AFC, so essentially, the entire conference gets a bye but we get home field 

If Cincinnati beat us in this hypothetical game, they would get the #2 seed and avoid a possible trip to Buffalo in the playoffs. They'd definitely be playing to win there.

[The Frankish Reich]

2 minutes ago, billsfan5121 said:

I think what’s being overlooked is if KC, Buffalo, and Bengals win this weekend, bengals have no reason to play week 19, so they could rest and have their bye. Buffalo would seemingly win against backups and get their bye week 20. KC would now have their bye with the rest of the AFC, so essentially, the entire conference gets a bye but we get home field 

IF it played out that way, it would be a good result - as fair as can be hoped for under the circumstances. (Visions of losing to the Steelers backups in my head and all that)

[Dick_Cheney]

37 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

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.

The possibility of the Chiefs getting 2 weeks off strikes me as.....disgusting lol.

[May Day 10]

1 minute ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

If Cincinnati beat us in this hypothetical game, they would get the #2 seed and avoid a possible trip to Buffalo in the playoffs. They'd definitely be playing to win there.

 

Im not sure how much teams value the difference between #2 and #3 when it compares to rest and preservation of health.  Didnt the Bills rest starters a few years ago in this situation?  (My memory is hazy)

[What a Tuel]

8 minutes ago, billsfan5121 said:

I think what’s being overlooked is if KC, Buffalo, and Bengals win this weekend, bengals have no reason to play week 19, so they could rest and have their bye. Buffalo would seemingly win against backups and get their bye week 20. KC would now have their bye with the rest of the AFC, so essentially, the entire conference gets a bye but we get home field 

 

Last year the Bengals rested their starters to get 4th seed instead of 3rd seed and effectively avoided the Chiefs until the AFCCG. 

 

No such luck for them this year unless they get #1 seed, so they will look to get homefield advantage.

4 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

Im not sure how much teams value the difference between #2 and #3 when it compares to rest and preservation of health.  Didnt the Bills rest starters a few years ago in this situation?  (My memory is hazy)

 

I looked at this a little while ago and 2020 we played the Dolphins with our starters and obliterated them for the 1st half. We were contesting with the Steelers for 2nd/3rd seed.

 

Last year we played our starters against the Jets because the Chiefs played Denver and if they lost and we won we'd have had the 2nd seed. Denver almost beat them if it wasn't for a Melvin Gordon fumble if i remember correctly.

Edited January 4, 2023 by What a Tuel

[May Day 10]

I thought that Miami game was supposed to have 2nd stringers and it was a question of when the starters would be pulled.... and they pulled a lot of players at half time?  I think Pittsburgh also rested starters 

 

Looking at the box score, Antonio Williams had more rushes than the rest of the RBs combined.  Diggs did have 7 catches though.

 

It was 28-6 at half time....   And the Dolphins were favored by 3.5?

Edited January 4, 2023 by May Day 10

[The Frankish Reich]

Q. What have we learned in 57 pages of discussion here?

A. No solution is perfect. In fact there are big problems with every proposal. 
 

In hindsight, the NFL should have had a rule for dealing with game cancellations that can’t be made up (based on league determination). No, we fortunately haven’t seen this particular situation before. But let’s say 9/11 had happened on 1/1 and the Jets/Giants couldn’t play and the game couldn’t be moved before the playoffs. Or that some Storm of the Century shut down Week 18 from Chicago to Boston. Or that 90% of some team tested positive for COVID ahead of Week 18. People don’t react well to after-the-fact fixes. They don’t mind if the plan was in place and known to all teams ahead of the event. 

 

I say no contest/coin flip if two teams are tied in the loss column after Week 18 concludes. We can create all kinds of fancy fixes that won’t satisfy people anyway. The Bills didn’t “forfeit”; the league canceled the game. For all I know  the “atmospheric river” crossing California may inundate Las Vegas on Sunday and cause the Chiefs game to be canceled. The fix for a random occurrence altering an expected scenario is usually a random method for assigning a winner. Coin flip and be done with it. 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by The Frankish Reich

[CorkScrewHill]

A little bit of a different concept

 

week 18 plays out . If all 3 win, chiefs top seed, Bengals2, Bills 3 - but the Bills get the bye in the wild card round. Gives the Bills a chance to recover and gives the Bengals and Chiefs homefield for the divisional round. Nothing will be totally fair but this makes it as fair as can be without replaying the Bengals game

[Rochesterfan]

2 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Q. What have we learned in 57 pages of discussion here?

A. No solution is perfect. In fact there are big problems with every proposal. 
 

In hindsight, the NFL should have had a rule for dealing with game cancellations that can’t be made up (based on league determination). No, we fortunately haven’t seen this particular situation before. But let’s say 9/11 had happened on 1/1 and the Jets/Giants couldn’t play and the game couldn’t be moved before the playoffs. Or that some Storm of the Century shut down Week 18 from Chicago to Boston. Or that 90% of some team tested positive for COVID ahead of Week 18. People don’t react well to after-the-fact fixes. They don’t mind if the plan was in place and known to all teams ahead of the event. 

 

I say no contest/coin flip if two teams are tied in the loss column after Week 18 concludes. We can create all kinds of fancy fixes that won’t satisfy people anyway. The Bills didn’t “forfeit”; the league canceled the game. For all I know  the “atmospheric river” crossing California may inundate Las Vegas on Sunday and cause the Chiefs game to be canceled. The fix for a random occurrence altering an expected scenario is usually a random method for assigning a winner. Coin flip and be done with it. 

 

 

They do have rules that have been posted in this thread.

 

The issue is the rules state they need to do everything to play the game if possible if it could provide an advantage to other teams.  Hence why the NFL is looking at various options.

 

They must explore options before working with everyone on a solution that per Vincent may not be equitable.

 

Additionally - they adopted Covid rules to deal with unequal number of games played - switching from record to winning percentage to determine seeding.

 

None of these have been used, but they are part of the discussion on figuring this out.

 

Ideally for the NFL is to get the game in, but they will get a huge amount of pushback from the NFLPA and the 2 teams trying to shoehorn in a Bills Bengals game.

 

 

[The Frankish Reich]

9 minutes ago, Rochesterfan said:

Additionally - they adopted Covid rules to deal with unequal number of games played - switching from record to winning percentage to determine seeding.

Thanks for pointing out the existing rules. But as you note, there isn’t one for “game cannot be played at all.”

 

Unthinking adherence to “try to act as if everything is back to normal” usually brings the worst results. I remember the Broncos having their entire QB room barred based on 2020 COVID protocols. Yes, kind of their fault. But it resulted in a joke of a game with WR Kendall Hinton playing QB and completing 1 pass for 13 yards in a New Orleans blowout. This made a mockery of the product on the field. If they’d just forfeited tickets would’ve been refunded; the Saints wouldn’t have gotten one tainted win. Acting like “we’ll play the games as scheduled or the closest we can” was the worst solution. 
 

Likewise the 1987 strike season played (for 3 games) by “replacement players” in games the NFL insisted would count. Trying to maintain the status quo resulted in a farce. 
 

Compare the 1981 MLB season, divided in rough halves by a strike. The league decided there’d be a first half winner in each division and a second half winner. Those teams went to the playoffs. An after-the-fact solution, but nobody harps on the Dodgers WS win as illegitimate today. (The Reds fans do a little, since overall they had the best record in the NL West but didn’t make the playoffs at all under the new rule. Nobody cares except them)

 

And the NBA COVID “bubble” season was fantastic. Every season should be as short and intense. The NHL version was kinda ok if I remember correctly. 
 

The point: try to maintain general fairness and strive toward putting the best product on the field even if that

means deviating from the standard more  than some of the alternatives. 

[stlbills13]

There are no solutions that will be completely fair but that suggestion is horrendous 

[Motor26]

Honestly the easiest solution is to just call Bills Bengals a no-contest. Sucks cuz it pretty much hands the Chiefs the 1 seed but eventually they need to just move on from this game. 

[Airseven]

The easiest solution isn't the proper solution. The game should be finished for the sake of competitive integrity. The season still matters. At this point, several reasonable scenarios have been offered to get it played in the next two weeks.

[The Frankish Reich]

1 minute ago, Motor26 said:

Sucks cuz it pretty much hands the Chiefs the 1 seed

Only if the Bills/Chiefs both win this weekend, and only if win percentage is the deciding factor. I say it should be a tie if they’re tied in the loss column and a coin flip should decide who gets the #1 seed. It’s actually good that all 3 teams involved are clear playoff teams already. The only thing at issue is seeding, and given that the NFL canceled one game, there’s no clear rationale for going by win percentage. You might as well say “when teams are tied in the loss column, the tiebreaker is head-to-head record.” Coin flip!