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The NFL will not reschedule Monday night’s postponed game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, and the league said Thursday it was ready to adjust its playoff format to address competitive injustices resulting from the cancellation.
Under the revised system, the AFC Championship match could be played at a neutral venue under certain conditions. These circumstances include the Bills or Bengals entering the game as a road team.
The Bengals and Baltimore Ravens could also have the location of a prospective playoff meeting in the opening round, determined by a coin toss, under the proposed modified format.
The changes were recommended by Commissioner Roger Goodell and approved by the league’s competition rulemaking committee on Thursday, the NFL said. They will be scrutinized on Friday by the league’s team owners, who are scheduled to meet via video conference for possible ratification of the plan.
“When looking at the football plan, our principle was to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive disparities,” Goodell said in an opinion. “I realize that there is no perfect solution. However, the proposal we are asking owners to consider addresses the key potential equitable issues raised by the difficult but necessary decision not to play the game in these exceptional circumstances.”
The NFL’s deliberations over its scheduling issues began after the first-quarter game was abandoned Monday in Cincinnati. Bill’s safety Damar Hamlin was injured in a hit and suffered cardiac arrest on the field. The game was rescheduled later that night. Hamlin’s doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said Thursday that he has made significant progress in his recovery.
The league decided on Thursday to declare the Bills-Bengals game canceled.
“It’s been a very difficult week,” Goodell said. “We remain focused on Damar Hamlin’s recovery and are heartened by the improvements in his condition and the tremendous support and concern for Damar and his family from across the country. We are also incredibly grateful for the great work of the medical staff and applaud each and every one of them.”
Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said January 5 that Buffalo Bill’s safety Damar Hamlin was awake and able to move his hands and feet. (Video: Portal)
Damar Hamlin is awake, has “recovered quite remarkably,” doctors say
These two teams will each play 16 regular season games, one fewer than other NFL teams. Playoff seedings in the AFC are determined by teams’ odds of winning.
The cancellation gives the Kansas City Chiefs a path to the top playoff seed in the AFC ahead of the Bills. The Chiefs can secure that with a win over the Raiders in Las Vegas on Saturday. Before the postponement, the Bills were just ahead of the Chiefs based on a tiebreak advantage from a straight win this season; They could have secured first place by beating the Bengals on Monday and the New England Patriots on Sunday to end the regular season.
To counter this, the league devised a system to play the AFC title game at a neutral venue when the Bills or the Bengals are the road team and could have possibly leveled the game by winning Monday’s game. So that’s only for specific results under a complex formula that will come into more focus following this weekend’s results.
For example, if the Chiefs and Bills both win this weekend and then meet in the AFC Championship game, the game would be played at a neutral venue. Under this scenario, the Bills could have been No. 1 if they had beaten the Bengals on Monday. But if the Chiefs win on Saturday and the Bills lose on Sunday, a Chiefs-Bills game would be played in the AFC title game in Kansas City. Under this scenario, the Chiefs would have been the top seed even if the Bills had won Monday’s game.
The NFL has not yet determined where a neutral-venue AFC championship game will be played, a person familiar with the plan said.
The coin toss option to determine the home team in a prospective Ravens-Bengals game in the opening round of the playoffs comes into play only if the Ravens win Sunday’s matchup between the two teams in Cincinnati.
After deciding not to reschedule the postponed game, the NFL considered a number of options. There has been speculation about the prospects of adding an eighth playoff team to the AFC’s postseason field. Addition of an eighth playoff team in both conferences; or let the AFC’s top-seeded team choose between a first-round bye or home field advantage in the conference title game.
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said earlier Thursday that the league should have negotiated with the union to add one or more playoff teams. Smith said he did not receive such a proposal from the NFL.
The league is not considering adding an eighth team to the AFC playoffs, a person familiar with the considerations said.
Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said Wednesday that “everything is being considered.”
As Bill’s safety Damar Hamlin remains hospitalized following cardiac arrest, players and medical experts discuss his care and ways to make the game safer. (Video: Rich Matthews/Washington Post)
The league could have postponed a resumption of Bills-Bengals as a standalone game an extra weekend in the regular season, postponed the playoffs, and eliminated the free weekend between the conference title games and the Super Bowl. Alternatively, it could have played the remainder of the rescheduled game in one weekend, including the NFC playoff games, while the AFC playoff games would be rescheduled a week. Instead, the NFL chose not to revisit the postponed game.
The league has had to grapple with a rearrangement of its schedule in recent seasons impacted by the pandemic. But this time, the postponement came so late in the regular season that there was no room for maneuver without pushing the playoffs back.
Vincent said Wednesday that the NFL’s scheduling decision might not ensure competitive fairness under the current circumstances.
“As we’ve seen, there may be a lack of justice,” Vincent said, “where it may not be perfect, but it allows those contestants who have earned that right to play to continue playing.”