The NFL has decided not to resume the Bills-Bengals game that was suspended on Monday night after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field.
Hamlin has shown significant improvement in the past 24 hours, according to a team statement.
Per NFL PR:
Cancelling the game between the Bills and Bengals creates potential competitive inequities in certain playoff scenarios. In an effort to mitigate those inequities, NFL clubs will consider tomorrow in a Special League Meeting a resolution recommended by the Commissioner and approved today by the Competition Committee, consisting of two elements:
1. The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below:
Scenario 1
Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 2
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 3
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
2. If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati in Week 18 it will have defeated Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, twice but will not be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore will for a 17-game schedule.
If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and if those two clubs are schedule to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site for that game would be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play one another in the Wild Card round, the game sites would be determined by the regular scheduling procedures.
“As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities,” Goodell said. “I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking the ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances.”
Here’s the latest update on the AFC playoff picture:
1. Kansas City Chiefs (13-3): Clinched AFC West division title
2. Buffalo Bills (12-3): Clinched AFC East division title
3. Cincinnati Bengals (11-4): Clinched playoff spot
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)
5. Los Angeles Chargers (10-6): Clinched wild card
6. Baltimore Ravens (10-6): Clinched playoff spot
7. New England Patriots (8-8)
In the mix:
Miami Dolphins (8-8)
Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8)
Tennessee Titans (7-9)
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