(01-04-2023, 12:57 PM)Big Boss Wrote: They were up by 4 points with three full quarters still left to play.  

I'm not so sure that margin would have greatly affected things.  Because again, literally anything could have happened on the very next play.  Burrow could've thrown a Pick 6 and suddenly the Bills were leading by 3.

(01-04-2023, 01:01 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: its like people havent been watching any games this year lol

I don't think the Bengals should be declared the winner by the NFL, I think the Bills should forfeit. That solves everything.

At this point, I think the Bengals would only be conceded the win if the Bills forfeit the game. Outside of that, it's going to be declared a tie/no contest. I don't see them doing coin flips or number generators. Not when the outcome affects so many other teams.

That said, which team(s) will openly complain about the NFL's decision if Hamlin is still in critical condition or worse? This is why the NFL should've had a resolution ASAP. Come out and give the Bengals the win for example and are the Ravens going to look like insensitive assholes for complaining about the division going to Cincy while Hamlin is still in critical condition?

I will graciously accept any method determined by the NFL to make the seedings. I don't think it will be fair to everyone. But, it must be done.

(01-04-2023, 01:32 PM)guyofthetiger Wrote: I will graciously accept any method determined by the NFL to make the seedings. I don't think it will be fair to everyone. But, it must be done.

Well said

I think the game happens “week 19”, unless the bills forfeit.

The league could be in discussion with the bills and don’t want to declare anything until the bills decide if they want to suit up Sunday or not. Hence the reason no game time set for ravens bengals yet.

If the bills play Sunday, they will play the bengals the following week. Bengals v ravens, 4:30.

If the bills forfeit Sunday, they will likely be conceding both games.
Bengals v ravens, 1:00. In this scenario, unless KC loses Saturday, I believe bengals will be locked into the 2 seed.

This is the dumbest idea ever. Why stop at only KC, Buffalo, cinci. Randomly delete a game from all playoff and potential play off teams. What if ravnens beat us, and they randomly picked a game for Baltimore to throw out and it was a L. Now they become AFCN champs.

They should have played the game Wednesday. Literally was the most logical scenario. The bills and bengals play 4 days after Wednesday either way. So 4 days is the magic number to cope with all of this?

(01-04-2023, 01:40 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: This is the dumbest idea ever. Why stop at only KC, Buffalo, cinci. Randomly delete a game from all playoff and potential play off teams. What if ravnens beat us, and they randomly picked a game for Baltimore to throw out and it was a L. Now they become AFCN champs.

They should have played the game Wednesday. Literally was the most logical scenario. The bills and bengals play 4 days after Wednesday either way. So 4 days is the magic number to cope with all of this?

If they go the random number generator route it would only impact a team with more games than the teams involved in the seeding conflict with that team.  There is no reason to do this for all playoff teams.

(01-04-2023, 01:36 PM)Bengalbug Wrote: I think the game happens “week 19”, unless the bills forfeit.  

The league could be in discussion with the bills and don’t want to declare anything until the bills decide if they want to suit up Sunday or not.  Hence the reason no game time set for ravens bengals yet.

If the bills play Sunday, they will play the bengals the following week. Bengals v ravens, 4:30.

If the bills forfeit Sunday, they will likely be conceding both games.
Bengals v ravens, 1:00.  In this scenario, unless KC loses Saturday, I believe bengals will be locked into the 2 seed.

And this would not be fair to the Bills or Bengals as both would be playing opponents the next week that were given a bye.

There really isn't going to be a fair way to handle seeding if the game isn't played, at least if it's determined by the league.
The decision needs to come from the teams.
If the teams are willing to call it a tie or one being willing to give the other team the win and they take the loss, that's a decision the teams should get to make.

I think the easy answer is push the playoffs back a week since the Pro Bowl doesn't really matter. Keep the Super Bowl the same date and just have 1 week between the AFCCG/NFCCG and the Super Bowl. It would still give the teams 1 week to prepare, which is how it used to be anyway. Pro Bowl can either be canceled or played the week after the Super Bowl like it used to.
Let the Bengals and Bills play their game in "Week 19" and the playoffs start the week after.

Ok, so the new theory being talked about on Sirius is they play week 18 as scheduled. Then the following weekend is wildcard weekend, but only for the NFC. The Bengal/Bills is the only AFC game played. The following weekend is AFC Wildcard weekend. Then the playoffs go as scheduled, losing the extra week prior to the SB.

Just put it to a vote. All AFC teams still in playoff contention.

(01-04-2023, 01:47 PM)ochocincos Wrote: There really isn't going to be a fair way to handle seeding if the game isn't played, at least if it's determined by the league.
The decision needs to come from the teams.
If the teams are willing to call it a tie or one being willing to give the other team the win and they take the loss, that's a decision the teams should get to make.

I think the easy answer is push the playoffs back a week since the Pro Bowl doesn't really matter. Keep the Super Bowl the same date and just have 1 week between the AFCCG/NFCCG and the Super Bowl. It would still give the teams 1 week to prepare, which is how it used to be anyway. Pro Bowl can either be canceled or played the week after the Super Bowl like it used to.
Let the Bengals and Bills play their game in "Week 19" and the playoffs start the week after.

Bengals should not be put in that situation whatsoever.  A major no win situation.  A week 19 gives a bye to every single playoff team except the Bills and Bengals and gives the #1 seed (KC?) a two week bye.  I dont like it.

Then there is the money and legal consequences. Pro Bowl week is a money maker with several contracted vendors, as is the same week prior to the SB to the city that bid on the game and was promised 2 weeks worth of revenue generation.

Under NO circumstances should the Bengals accept ANY decision that hurts their chances of getting the #1 seed.
They had NOTHING to do with the tragic situation, and should not be punished for it.
If it really came down to it, they COULD HAVE continued playing, albeit reluctantly.

(01-04-2023, 01:44 PM)casear2727 Wrote: If they go the random number generator route it would only impact a team with more games than the teams involved in the seeding conflict with that team.  There is no reason to do this for all playoff teams.

If they delete a game for Baltimore and it’s an L, that puts them at 10-6. Say they beat us this weekend. They’re 11-6 and we’re 11-6. They beat us twice head to head. They win afcn. They absolutely should be involved in this scenario. Same for Pitt, miami, NE. Any team on the bubble or who could improve their seeding. It’s too much to decide based on luck.

They need to play the game, some how some way. At this point, I’d even be open to a FG kicking contest to pick a winner. im joking, but to have the playoffs decided by drawling numbers is ridiculous.

We all felt like Bengals were going to win Monday night. Anyone think we would lose this Sunday to Baltimore for the chance to win #1 or #2 seed? We will all be pissed if we lose round 1 or round 2 in the playoffs, on the road, when we should have had a home game or bye.

(01-04-2023, 01:46 PM)casear2727 Wrote: And this would not be fair to the Bills or Bengals as both would be playing opponents the next week that were given a bye.

The bengals kind of got a bye last week. It’s the only thing you can do that doesn’t negatively effect other teams.

(01-04-2023, 01:53 PM)Big Boss Wrote: Just put it to a vote.  All AFC teams still in playoff contention.

That would be a terrible situation as no team wants to appear insensitive.  Seems the Bengals are going to get hosed regardless.

(01-04-2023, 01:59 PM)casear2727 Wrote: That would be a terrible situation as no team wants to appear insensitive.  Seems the Bengals are going to get hosed regardless.

They will put the game on the docket. With sports gambling legal now, I’d bet the “yes” if that were possible.

(01-04-2023, 01:56 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Bengals should not be put in that situation whatsoever.  A major no win situation.  A week 19 gives a bye to every single playoff team except the Bills and Bengals and gives the #1 seed (KC?) a two week bye.  I dont like it.

Then there is the money and legal consequences. Pro Bowl week is a money maker with several contracted vendors, as is the same week prior to the SB to the city that bid on the game and was promised 2 weeks worth of revenue generation.

Fair on the advantage.
You could push Week 18 back by 1 week to Week 19 then and have Bengals-Bills the only game this weekend.

Frankly, I don't care about the money-maker part of these things, as I think it's all greed. But I guess some do, so I get your point.

(01-04-2023, 01:59 PM)Bengalbug Wrote: The bengals kind of got a bye last week.  It’s the only thing you can do that doesn’t negatively effect other teams.

We did not get a bye, giving a playoff opponent 2 weeks to prepare against us or the Bills is not remotely fair.

After looking at all the options this random number generator seems to be the chance for the Bengals to have the most fair out come.

This weekend:

KC wins
Bills wins
Cincy wins

Randomly pick a game to remove from KCs schedule to even the number of games - 80% chance it is a win that is removed and Bengals get the #2 seed.  If Bills & KC lose we get the #1 seed.

(01-04-2023, 01:58 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Under NO circumstances should the Bengals accept ANY decision that hurts their chances of getting the #1 seed.
They had NOTHING to do with the tragic situation, and should not be punished for it.
If it really came down to it, they COULD HAVE continued playing, albeit reluctantly.

I agree that the Bengals shouldn't be expected to sign up to detriment ahead of another team, but again it's a real assumption we were any more ready to continue that game than the Bills were. 

I'm personally of the opinion that the main reason this game was not rescheduled for tonight, would have been because neither McDermott and Taylor wanted to send their guys back out there this week, rather than the NFL kicking the can down the road.