The NFL announced today that the Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will not be restarted and has been canceled.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed the clubs of the decision on Thursday after speaking with the management of the Bills, Bengals and the NFL Players Association.
NFL to consider neutral site for AFC Championship Game. Full details: pic.twitter.com/oi3fItUWIj
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 6, 2023
It’s been a very tough week,” Goodell said. “We remain focused on Damar Hamlin’s recovery and are encouraged by the improvements in his condition, as well as the overwhelming outpouring of support and care for Damar and his family from across the country.” We are also extremely grateful for the incredible work of the media staff and I congratulate each and every one of them.”
The NFL cited the following factors in making the decision to cancel the game:
- Not playing the Buffalo-Cincinnati game until the end will have no effect on which clubs will qualify for the postseason. No club will qualify for the postseason and no club will be eliminated based on the outcome of this game
- This would require postponing the playoffs by one week, thus affecting all 14 clubs that qualify for postseason play.
- Making a decision before Week 18 is in line with our competitive principles and allows all clubs to know the playoff possibilities before the final weekend of regular season games are played.
The NFL’s complete breakdown of the scenarios involving the race for first place in the AFC between the Bills, Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, as well as the protocol required to play the AFC Championship Game at a neutral site, can be seen below:
- The AFC Championship match will be played at a neutral ground if the participating teams have played an uneven number of matches and both could have been seeded number one and hosted the match if all AFC clubs had played a full regular season of 17 matches. These circumstances include Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below
Scenario 1 – Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship game will be at a neutral site. Scenario 2 – Buffalo and Kansas City lose and Baltimore wins or ties – Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship game will be at a neutral site. Scenario 3 – Buffalo and Kansas City lose and Cincinnati win – Buffalo or Cincinnati vs. Kansas City championship game will be at a neutral site.
- If Baltimore beats Cincinnati in Week 18, it will have beaten divisional opponent Cincinnati twice, but won’t be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore did in 17 match schedule
If Baltimore beats Cincinnati and if these two clubs are scheduled to play a wild card game against each other, the site for that game will be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game, or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play each other in the wild card round, the game sites will be determined by regular scheduling procedures.
“As we contemplated the football schedule, our principles were to limit disruption to the league and minimize competitive disparities,” Goodell said. “I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential fairness issues created by the difficult but necessary decision not to play the game in these extraordinary circumstances.
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