NFL Week 18

[17 Seconds]

 

still a long way to go, but things are looking up

[David]

 

lots of great news in this whole thread

[Andy]

 

lots of great news in this whole thread

I like to picture Damar's internal monologue thinking after the doctors said that, "OK very cute. Seriously who won the damn game"

[bukie]

NFL still figuring out what to do regarding Bills-Bengals and playoff positioning: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/05/nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals/

 

Current ideas:

1. Play Bills-Bengals after week 18, alongside the NFC wildcard round, with the AFC wildcard round the following weekend, then eliminating the week between the conference championship and Super Bowl. Nobody likes this idea

2. Don't play the Bills-Bengals game, and play the AFC championship at a neutral site to be "fair" to the teams that didn't get a chance to earn their proper seed.

3. Temporarily expand the playoff field to 8 teams per conference so there isn't a huge advantage to the 1 seed, since the Bills and Bengals lost their chance at it. Do it in both leagues for competitive balance.

[soccer10k]

I think they should just call it a tie and play Week 18 as normal.

 

Sure KC benefits but there was a 50-50 shot they’d get the 1 seed anyway. And they still have to win this week. Both Buff and Cincy are hurt but they also benefit as well. Buffalo probably loses a shot at the 1 seed but they also are unlikely to get the 3 seed now either. Cincinnati loses a shot at the 2 seed but they also clinch the division so they don’t have to worry about dropping to a WC team.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think they should just call it a tie and play Week 18 as normal.

 

Sure KC benefits but there was a 50-50 shot they’d get the 1 seed anyway. And they still have to win this week. Both Buff and Cincy are hurt but they also benefit as well. Buffalo probably loses a shot at the 1 seed but they also are unlikely to get the 3 seed now either. Cincinnati loses a shot at the 2 seed but they also clinch the division so they don’t have to worry about dropping to a WC team.

 

At a minimum, calling it a tie/not playing the game and going off winning percentage seems like a way better idea than staggering the playoff rounds between conferences(creating a rest advantage for the super bowl and/or weakening the NFC's bye) just to make the game up. I'd argue that's better than changing the playoff structure on a few days notice too.

[UMFan83]

NFL still figuring out what to do regarding Bills-Bengals and playoff positioning: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/05/nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals/

 

Current ideas:

1. Play Bills-Bengals after week 18, alongside the NFC wildcard round, with the AFC wildcard round the following weekend, then eliminating the week between the conference championship and Super Bowl. Nobody likes this idea

2. Don't play the Bills-Bengals game, and play the AFC championship at a neutral site to be "fair" to the teams that didn't get a chance to earn their proper seed.

3. Temporarily expand the playoff field to 8 teams per conference so there isn't a huge advantage to the 1 seed, since the Bills and Bengals lost their chance at it. Do it in both leagues for competitive balance.

 

Those all seem like terrible ideas. The reality is there is no clear, obvious and equitable solution out there. Someone is going to get the short end of the stick no matter what happens. I think you just call it a tie and lets the chips fall where they may with everything else going normally. But I'd be open to options that involve removing the week between the conference championship games and the super bowl because I horsefeathering hate that week.

[Tim]

NFL still figuring out what to do regarding Bills-Bengals and playoff positioning: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/05/nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals/

 

Current ideas:

1. Play Bills-Bengals after week 18, alongside the NFC wildcard round, with the AFC wildcard round the following weekend, then eliminating the week between the conference championship and Super Bowl. Nobody likes this idea

2. Don't play the Bills-Bengals game, and play the AFC championship at a neutral site to be "fair" to the teams that didn't get a chance to earn their proper seed.

3. Temporarily expand the playoff field to 8 teams per conference so there isn't a huge advantage to the 1 seed, since the Bills and Bengals lost their chance at it. Do it in both leagues for competitive balance.

 

Those all seem like terrible ideas. The reality is there is no clear, obvious and equitable solution out there. Someone is going to get the short end of the stick no matter what happens. I think you just call it a tie and lets the chips fall where they may with everything else going normally. But I'd be open to options that involve removing the week between the conference championship games and the super bowl because I horsefeathering hate that week.

meh - super easy. Both teams reportedly refused to go back to the field instead of just doing the five minute pause the league wanted. If only one had done that, they would have forfeited. Since both refused to take the field, it's a tie. End of story. Move on.

[Derwood]

[UMFan83]

Just for fun though, let’s say the NFL does allow an 8th playoff team per conference. What eliminated teams that would now be back in the mix today?

 

Not 100% certain but I think these teams would come back from the dead:

 

-Washington

-New Orleans

-NY Jets

 

Possibly Cleveland but they were eliminated 2+ weeks ago so I’m guessing the tiebreakers are not in their favor.

 

Would be wild to see what would happen. Like for instance Washington has already committed to starting Sam Howell this week and he’s taken 1st team reps all week. Would he still start or would Heineike start now?

 

The other question is less interesting: would any team clinch a playoff spot due to another seed opening up? I believe the answer would be no as both conferences currently have 3 8-8 teams fighting for the 7th seed right now.

[bukie]

The league has made a decision: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35388199/bills-bengals-game-not-resume-amid-damar-hamlin-continued-recovery

 

Here is a summary:

- The Bills-Bengals game is canceled, no result will be kept.

- Bengals win the AFC North as a result. However...

- If the Ravens beat the Bengals and set up a Ravens-Bengals wild card game, the site will be decided by a coin flip. If they aren't matched up against each other,

- If Buffalo and Kansas City win this week, a Bills-Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

- If Buffalo and KC lose and the Bengals win, a Bengals/Bills/Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

[UMFan83]

The league has made a decision: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35388199/bills-bengals-game-not-resume-amid-damar-hamlin-continued-recovery

 

Here is a summary:

- The Bills-Bengals game is canceled, no result will be kept.

- Bengals win the AFC North as a result. However...

- If the Ravens beat the Bengals and set up a Ravens-Bengals wild card game, the site will be decided by a coin flip. If they aren't matched up against each other,

- If Buffalo and Kansas City win this week, a Bills-Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

- If Buffalo and KC lose and the Bengals win, a Bengals/Bills/Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

 

To be clear the later part isn’t official yet. It will be voted on by the owners tomorrow

[jersey cubs fan]

The league has made a decision: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35388199/bills-bengals-game-not-resume-amid-damar-hamlin-continued-recovery

 

Here is a summary:

- The Bills-Bengals game is canceled, no result will be kept.

- Bengals win the AFC North as a result. However...

- If the Ravens beat the Bengals and set up a Ravens-Bengals wild card game, the site will be decided by a coin flip. If they aren't matched up against each other,

- If Buffalo and Kansas City win this week, a Bills-Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

- If Buffalo and KC lose and the Bengals win, a Bengals/Bills/Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

So dumb

[WrigleyField 22]

The league has made a decision: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35388199/bills-bengals-game-not-resume-amid-damar-hamlin-continued-recovery

 

Here is a summary:

- The Bills-Bengals game is canceled, no result will be kept.

- Bengals win the AFC North as a result. However...

- If the Ravens beat the Bengals and set up a Ravens-Bengals wild card game, the site will be decided by a coin flip. If they aren't matched up against each other,

- If Buffalo and Kansas City win this week, a Bills-Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

- If Buffalo and KC lose and the Bengals win, a Bengals/Bills/Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

So dumb

Least dumb of all the scenarios that got thrown out.

[Brian707]

Probably the best option available to them. Play a potential AFC championship in Indy I would guess

[raw]

Probably the best option available to them. Play a potential AFC championship in Indy I would guess

 

Cincinnati would have needed KC to lose for HFA. I say play AFC Championship at neutral site if it's any 2 of the top 3 seeds playing in it. Play it in Indianapolis. Nice central location. Both teams split revenue

 

Just pointing out this was my idea. Give me my royalties, Goodell! And at least say "Hi" if you're reading this board.

[WrigleyField 22]

Hi raw, I can't pay you, but I'll put the Bears in the Super Bowl next season.

[Soul]

The league has made a decision: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35388199/bills-bengals-game-not-resume-amid-damar-hamlin-continued-recovery

 

Here is a summary:

- The Bills-Bengals game is canceled, no result will be kept.

- Bengals win the AFC North as a result. However...

- If the Ravens beat the Bengals and set up a Ravens-Bengals wild card game, the site will be decided by a coin flip. If they aren't matched up against each other,

- If Buffalo and Kansas City win this week, a Bills-Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

- If Buffalo and KC lose and the Bengals win, a Bengals/Bills/Chiefs championship game would be played at a neutral site.

So dumb

Least dumb of all the scenarios that got thrown out.

Mixon posted the league rules around game cancellations, saying those should simply be followed here. It's a cancelled game and there's a game cancellation policy. Horrible situation surrounding the cancellation but I'm not sure why the existing policy isn't used.

[WrigleyField 22]

So dumb

Least dumb of all the scenarios that got thrown out.

Mixon posted the league rules around game cancellations, saying those should simply be followed here. It's a cancelled game and there's a game cancellation policy. Horrible situation surrounding the cancellation but I'm not sure why the existing policy isn't used.

Do you have that handy? If that's true that a policy already exists (which makes sense it would since they probably gamed this with covid), just go with it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Least dumb of all the scenarios that got thrown out.

Mixon posted the league rules around game cancellations, saying those should simply be followed here. It's a cancelled game and there's a game cancellation policy. Horrible situation surrounding the cancellation but I'm not sure why the existing policy isn't used.

Do you have that handy? If that's true that a policy already exists (which makes sense it would since they probably gamed this with covid), just go with it.

 

 

It is *basically* what they are doing, except for the unnecessary permutations around home field.

[WrigleyField 22]

Mixon posted the league rules around game cancellations, saying those should simply be followed here. It's a cancelled game and there's a game cancellation policy. Horrible situation surrounding the cancellation but I'm not sure why the existing policy isn't used.

Do you have that handy? If that's true that a policy already exists (which makes sense it would since they probably gamed this with covid), just go with it.

 

 

It is *basically* what they are doing, except for the unnecessary permutations around home field.

Yea so really what CIN loses is they have to go through with a coin toss* they shouldn't have to. So yea the coin toss part is my least favorite part of this for sure. But the Bengal fans I'm arguing with on Twitter seem more mad about divisional and possible bye seeding which they wouldn't get anyways.

 

* only if they lose to Baltimore. If they win that part is moot.

[WrigleyField 22]

In exchange for having to do a silly coin toss I guess CIN then gets benefit of a possible neutral site AFC champ game, but I think they should have also gotten the benefit of a coin toss in a possible KC division matchup. I think any three of those things would have been mutually exclusive results as well.

 

Not sure if teams were negotiating for this outcome or it was all league internal debates only... Maybe we'll get the full story one day. It was tweeted it passed, would love to see the vote breakdown.

[WrigleyField 22]

I guess the only other consideration is that cancelation wasn't a given. It's possible that NFL was really pushing to squeeze in that game which would have been bad for both CIN and BUF no matter what

[UMFan83]

Hell yeah!

 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I get the whole “pride” thing, but going for 2 to lose the #1 overall pick is certainly a decision.