The NFL has canceled the Bills-Bengals sport that was beforehand postponed on Monday night time. The league has additionally deliberate a vote Friday with two changes for the AFC playoffs on the desk.
While the NFL’s cancellation choice is not going to affect which groups make the playoffs, it might affect seedings, which is why the league has provide you with a number of potential rule adjustments to even out the aggressive inequities that not enjoying the sport will create.
Under the proposal that can be voted on by house owners, the AFC Championship may doubtlessly develop into a neutral-site sport if any of the three following eventualities are met:
Scenario 1: If Buffalo and Kansas City each win or each tie in Week 18, then a Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship sport can be at a impartial web site.Scenario 2: If the Bills and Chiefs each lose in Week 18 and Baltimore wins or ties with the Bengals, then a Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship sport can be at a impartial web site.Scenario 3: If Buffalo and Kansas City each lose and Cincinnati beats Baltimore, then a Bills or Bengals vs. Chiefs championship sport can be at a impartial web site.
The NFL can be giving the Ravens an opportunity to presumably host a wild-card sport despite the fact that Baltimore cannot mathematically win the AFC North. Even if the Ravens win on Sunday in opposition to the Bengals, that will put them at 11-6, which might nonetheless be a half sport behind the Cincinnati, who would end 11-5 with a loss.
Under that situation, the Ravens would not win the division despite the fact that they swept the Bengals AND had a greater division file. To repair that downside, the proposal on the desk is that the NFL will flip a coin to see who hosts a Ravens-Bengals wild-card sport if:
1. The Ravens beat the Bengals on Sunday, and …
2. If the 2 groups are scheduled to play one another within the wild-card spherical.
Both the AFC Championship proposal and the Ravens proposal can be voted on Friday.
“As we thought-about the soccer schedule, our rules have been to restrict disruption throughout the league and decrease aggressive inequities,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated of why the league got here to those two selections. “I acknowledge that there is no such thing as a good resolution. The proposal we’re asking the possession to think about, nevertheless, addresses essentially the most important potential equitable points created by the tough, however vital, choice to not play the sport underneath these extraordinary circumstances.”
The circumstances Goodell is referring to is the scenario involving Damar Hamlin. The Bills and Bengals performed for almost 9 minutes on Monday night time earlier than the sport was stopped after the Bills security went into cardiac arrest on the sphere. After being given CPR, Hamlin was taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical heart, the place he is been listed in crucial situation for the previous three days.
The solely factor on the NFL’s thoughts over the previous 72 hours has been the well being of Hamlin, which has improved remarkably over the previous 24 hours. Two members of Hamlin’s medical workforce held a press convention on Thursday and revealed that not solely is he transferring each his legs and arms, however he is additionally been in a position to talk by way of writing with family and friends. (He even requested who received the Bills-Bengals sport whereas speaking with a nurse on Wednesday night time.)
“This has been a really tough week,” Goodell stated in a press release. “We proceed to give attention to the restoration of Damar Hamlin and are inspired by the enhancements in his situation in addition to the large outpouring of help and take care of Damar and his household from throughout the nation.”
With Hamlin’s well being enhancing, the NFL lastly sat down to determine what the subsequent transfer needs to be with the Bills-Bengals sport. With that out of the way in which, the subsequent step for the league will now come on Friday when the league votes to presumably implement these two extraordinary measures for the playoffs.
With the cancellation, this can mark the primary time since 1935 that each NFL workforce hasn’t performed the identical quantity of video games.
