What would you like to happen?

[CKwi88]

This has to be the most unique situations I have ever seen.

Unlike the Shazier/Alex Smith/Teddy Bridgewater injuries (among many others), players had an absolutely justified belief that they had just seen another dude die on the field. Hell, with the reports coming out, they very well might have seen Hamlin die and the (absolutely amazing) medical professionals bring him back. Yes, Shazier's injury was scary, but he never lost consciousness, was communicative and there was no doubt that he would live. Yes, Alex Smith's bones were on the wrong side of his skin, and yes there was a real fear he could lose his leg (although I doubt the players were aware of that at the moment) but he was also awake and responsive. And while Bridgewater was out cold, he eventually got up and left the field on his two feet.

The Hamlin injury is unlike anything ever seen in the NFL before. It's closer to the Christian Eriksen injury during the Denmark/Finland match at the Euros 2020, but even then Eriksen was awake when leaving the stadium. It is a very tough ask to have players from either team complete the game before having at least some clarity on Hamlin's situation. At this point, even hearing that he is in critical but stable condition would be a welcome development.

To answer the OP, I guess the ideal, if unlikely, resolution is that today we get the news that Hamlin's life is no longer in danger and the teams complete the game tomorrow and have to play week 18 on a short week as if it were a Sunday/Thursday turnaround.

More realistically, I think the game is declared a no-contest and the Bills and Bengals will simply have a 16 game win-loss record. While "unfair" to teams like the Ravens, good luck airing those grievances given all of the circumstances.

[WeezyBengal]

(01-03-2023, 11:07 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: If you can’t award a win/loss, you can’t award a tie.  A tie is a result of a final score, just like a win or loss.

You could do no contest, and bills/bengals would only have 16 games.  But the fallout is terrible.

Chiefs - good, likely the one seed.
Bills- bad, likely the two seed.
Bengals - good in the sense that you get the AFCN, bad that you likely cant get the 2 seed.

Ravens - irate.  No chance of winning the division.  

I feel like they, NFL, have to at least set a game time, and then the teams can do what they want regarding play/don’t play.

This is the correct view of things. 

[Big_Ern]

Man ...good thing the Bengals won 7 in a row. Otherwise needing this win to get a berth would be so stressful rn

[SunsetBengal]

(01-03-2023, 11:02 AM)kevin Wrote: It ain't happening.  The players do not want to come back Wednesday and play this thing.  It ain't happening.  The Players Union will back them up.  All concern now is with the injured player and family. There will be no restarting this game.  Buffalo is not going to fly back from Buffalo to Cincy.

So, are you saying that if given the option, the Bills are going to forfeit?

[PDub80]

(01-03-2023, 10:50 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Sorry for what, and how is that fair? The Bengals did nothing to be sorry for, and the Bills were behind on the scoreboard. This isn't Pop Warner guys, this is professional sports. Nothing they do about his game has any bearing on Hamlin's recovery, so there is no reason why they Bengals should accept anything less than a win or replay the game.

Not sorry in the sense that the Bengals did something. More of a "Sorry the game could not be finished". 

It isn't fair... Fairness often times isn't actually fair. And I meant that if the Bengals agreed to a tie would be "In the interest of fairness" because their opponent couldn't finish the contest. That isn't me talking or insinuating that's the right outcome, but that's for the Bengals to determine.

To me, the Bengals should get the win, regerdless of the score - of which they were on the right side of that as well. Frankly, sitting there live, I thought it looked like the Bengals were about to hang 40+ on the Bills. Players were getting open and the Bengals were playing so physical that I was in shock. From jump street the Bengals were there to send a message and beat the brakes off the Bills.

It is horroble that happened. I hope Hamlin can come to and live a 100% normal, full, productive life and is well compensated for what happened to his career. Competitively, the Bengals should get the W by all rights.

[Bengalbug]

(01-03-2023, 11:24 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Not sorry in the sense that the Bengals did something. More of a "Sorry the game could not be finished". 

It isn't fair... Fairness often times isn't actually fair. And I meant that if the Bengals agreed to a tie would be "In the interest of fairness" because their opponent couldn't finish the contest. That isn't me talking or insinuating that's the right outcome, but that's for the Bengals to determine.

To me, the Bengals should get the win, regerdless of the score - of which they were on the right side of that as well. Frankly, sitting there live, I thought it looked like the Bengals were about to hang 40+ on the Bills. Players were getting open and the Bengals were playing so physical that I was in shock. From jump street the Bengals were there to send a message and beat the brakes off the Bills.

It is horroble that happened. I hope Hamlin can come to and live a 100% normal, full, productive life and is well compensated for what happened to his career. Competitively, the Bengals should get the W by all rights.

I agree with you, but it’s also a 60 minute game. Just look at that last two weeks the bengals played.

We can’t just assume since the bengals were rolling for 6 minutes that would be for an entire 60 minute game.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(01-03-2023, 11:24 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: So, are you saying that if given the option, the Bills are going to forfeit?

I'd have to think your original post rings true, Sunset.

Something has to be done: I would hazard a guess that as per the rules, if you do not wish to play the game, you forfeit: with the Bengals being in-town and their house, surely they'd be ready to suit up at any time, while the Bills would need to fly back with all players, personnel, equipment, etc.

If they aren't willing to do that, it should be considered a forfeit. Sucks and a shitty situation, but eventually the rules will need to be enforced and Buffalo may come out on the shitty end of the stick.

[jj22]

Not playing the game also screws up players stats, contract perks, etc. When we find out Hamlin is going to make it there will be a lot to discuss.

[SunsetBengal]

(01-03-2023, 11:29 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I'd have to think your original post rings true, Sunset.

Something has to be done: I would hazard a guess that as per the rules, if you do not wish to play the game, you forfeit: with the Bengals being in-town and their house, surely they'd be ready to suit up at any time, while the Bills would need to fly back with all players, personnel, equipment, etc.

If they aren't willing to do that, it should be considered a forfeit. Sucks and a shitty situation, but eventually the rules will need to be enforced and Buffalo may come out on the shitty end of the stick.

Shitty would have been the league giving the teams an ordained period of time and telling them to either play or forfeit last night.  Thankfully the league has a heartbeat and allowed the game to be suspended.  They will most likely be given a time to finish the game or forfeit.  And to be perfectly honest, I don't see either team be willing to forfeit, with both teams in the thick of the hunt for a World Championship.

[Tomkat]

(01-03-2023, 11:31 AM)jj22 Wrote: Not playing the game also screws up players stats, contract perks, etc. When we find out Hamlin is going to make it there will be a lot to discuss.

That's why the game should be RESUMED, not started over from scratch.

Burrow had a passing TD, Boyd had a receiving TD, etc.
Those stats matter to those players.

[Sled21]

(01-03-2023, 11:36 AM)Tomkat Wrote: That's why the game should be RESUMED, not started over from scratch.

Burrow had a passing TD, Boyd had a receiving TD, etc.
Those stats matter to those players.

I don't think there is any question if they replay the game it will start at the point it ended. It would make zero sense to start from the beginning again.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

Until we find out what is going on with Hamlin, I don't care about the game, at all.

As to the discussion here, there are a lot of well thought out possibilities posted. I just can't think about it right now.

[Science Friction]

(01-03-2023, 09:09 AM)Sled21 Wrote: First off, in no way shape or form are the Bengals villains in this tragedy. The Bengals did not tackle this guy, he tackled one of our guys. It was a freak accident, nothing else. Secondly, the game will have to replayed, there is no way stadium owners and cities will willingly give up the revenue a playoff game brings. They either have to declare it a Bengal victory because we were ahead, or replay the game, starting the clock where it stopped and with the score 7-3.

THIS.  Anything else makes no sense.  If this is declared a tie or no contest, I've watched my last NFL game.

[CJD]

I think the most likely scenario is they call it a tie.

I think the second most likely scenario is they call it a Bengals win because they were leading at the time and the player that was at the center of the postponement was a Bills player (Call it a "forfeit due to injury" on the Bills' part).

I think the third most likely scenario is they replay the game on either Tuesday or Wednesday night. Hopefully, they also move the teams' Week 18 game back a day or two, but who knows at this point. I think this is unlikely because it would be in incredibly poor taste to move a game in the name of player safety, only to create a new unsafe situation by having teams play on an extremely short week (Wednesday to Sunday).

The least likely scenario, but perhaps the most "fair," would be to postpone the entire season a week, have the Bengals and Bills play next weekend, and then have week 18 the following weekend. You can either postpone everything a week or you can cancel the pro bowl to keep the Super Bowl date in place. The reason this is least likely is because you'd be re-scheduling literally hundreds of thousands of tickets by a whole week. The number of hotel, airplane and other accommodations required for those hundreds of thousands of fans would be nearly impossible to properly compensate.

[Science Friction]

What I would like to see:

1. Play the regularly scheduled games this week.
2. Play Bills @ Bengals the following week(Week 19) from point where game was suspended
3. The following three weeks , Play WC round, Div. Round, Conference Championships
4. Play Superbowl one week after conference title games

[WeezyBengal]

(01-03-2023, 11:56 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I think the most likely scenario is they call it a tie.

I think the second most likely scenario is they call it a Bengals win because they were leading at the time and the player that was at the center of the postponement was a Bills player (Call it a "forfeit due to injury" on the Bills' part).

I think the third most likely scenario is they replay the game on either Tuesday or Wednesday night. Hopefully, they also move the teams' Week 18 game back a day or two, but who knows at this point. I think this is unlikely because it would be in incredibly poor taste to move a game in the name of player safety, only to create a new unsafe situation by having teams play on an extremely short week (Wednesday to Sunday).

The least likely scenario, but perhaps the most "fair," would be to postpone the entire season a week, have the Bengals and Bills play next weekend, and then have week 18 the following weekend. You can either postpone everything a week or you can cancel the pro bowl to keep the Super Bowl date in place. The reason this is least likely is because you'd be re-scheduling literally hundreds of thousands of tickets by a whole week. The number of hotel, airplane and other accommodations required for those hundreds of thousands of fans would be nearly impossible to properly compensate.

The more I think about it the more I think that this just doesn't happen. This would **** so many teams over. You think the Ravens owners wouldn't have something to say about this? It basically hands Cincy the division, a home playoff game, and millions of dollars in revenue. 

There is just no way that they can't NOT play this game. Too many things involved. The NFL needs to schedule it and if Buffalo doesn't want to play, they always have the option to forfeit. 

[Cincybearcatfan]

After thinking about it more, I think the NFL should cancel everyone's week 18 game and allow the Bengals and Bills to make up their game next weekend. That way everyone would have played 16 games and it allows every team to be equally affected by this tragedy.

[CJD]

(01-03-2023, 12:06 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: The more I think about it the more I think that this just doesn't happen. This would **** so many teams over. You think the Ravens owners wouldn't have something to say about this? It basically hands Cincy the division, a home playoff game, and millions of dollars in revenue. 

There is just no way that they can't NOT play this game. Too many things involved. The NFL needs to schedule it and if Buffalo doesn't want to play, they always have the option to forfeit. 

I'm not sure the NFL is willing to put the villain mask on that abrasively. Forcing a grieving team to pick between playing when they're not ready or a loss would be universally panned across the NFL and country. You saw the backlash that occurred when the announcer said they were going to give the teams 5 minutes to warm up and then the NFL back pedaling, swearing they definitely didn't give that order, scout's honor.

A tie primarily screws over the Bengals and Bills, as the Bills would lose the #1 seed and the Bengals would be locked into the #3 seed (Unless Buffalo loses to New England in week 18). It technically screws over the Ravens too, but they'd be cast as villains if they protested, especially since they were likely to lose against us anyway since Lamar still isn't practicing and Harbaugh said he doesn't know if he'll practice this week either. It seemed to me like they were setting up to just rest Lamar until the playoffs anyway, so any protest from them would definitely come off as bad faith and an attempt to turn a tragedy into a gain for them, which would not be received well.

Honestly, I think the most fair outcome would be to just award the win to the Bengals, as I said in my 2nd option (forfeit due to injury), but the optics on that aren't great either.

No one wins in this scenario but I think the least damaging outcome overall is either a tie or a Bengals win.

[Science Friction]

How do we know the Bills will be in a football playing frame of mind on Sunday for NE. Should the league make that one a tie also or call it a no contest.? Let the Bills dictate the schedule based on how they are feeling? Cancel the rest of the season if the Bills are unable to suit up? Award the Bills the Lombardi Trophy ?

[Sled21]

(01-03-2023, 12:10 PM)Cincybearcatfan Wrote: After thinking about it more, I think the NFL should cancel everyone's week 18 game and allow the Bengals and Bills to make up their game next weekend. That way everyone would have played 16 games and it allows every team to be equally affected by this tragedy.

If every Division and seed was set, then they could cancel the last game. There is a lot riding on the outcomes of some of those games.