What should the NFL do about Week 18? Move it back one week?

[SupermanBrandon]

They should've played Thursday plain and simple.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by SupermanBrandon

They should've played Thursday plain and simple.

Maybe.

The league did give us football during the pandemic when many were screaming to shut everything down.

I’m willing to cut them a bit of slack here.

[Dukeboy73]

Originally Posted by packman80

I don't think for a game invovled the Bengals they would host the game that close. Put it down in Houston or AZ.

Detroit would be the most logical choice.

[Grid]

Originally Posted by oplum29

nope. not gonna happen. Chargers don't have the defense to beat the top 3, and the Packers aren't beating the 49ers. the 49ers are just taking out years of frustration for what Favre did to them through the Young and Garcia teams.

GB knocked us out of the playoffs in 95, 96, 97, and again in 2001, on top of idk how many regular season wins.

They knocked San Fran out in 2001. But the 49ers knocked them out in 1998.

In fact, the 49ers knocked the Packers out of the 2021 Playoffs. The 2019 Playoffs. The 2013 Playoffs. And the 2012 Playoffs.

I get the revenge angle, but...

[hche]

"NFL owners have approved a plan that leaves open the possibility of a neutral-site AFC Championship Game and could determine home field for a wild-card game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens by a coin flip."

They are really making things complicated. LOL.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by hche

"NFL owners have approved a plan that leaves open the possibility of a neutral-site AFC Championship Game and could determine home field for a wild-card game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens by a coin flip."

They are really making things complicated. LOL.

Did they leave open the possibility for best 2 out of 3 on the coin flip?

[oldgoldy97]

Eenie meenie miney moe?

[captionwanker]

Originally Posted by hche

"NFL owners have approved a plan that leaves open the possibility of a neutral-site AFC Championship Game and could determine home field for a wild-card game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens by a coin flip."

They are really making things complicated. LOL.

they are going to keep screwing over the bengals aren't they. i believe they voted against the proposal. Sucks for them, should have spoken up earlier in the week and took the heat from the vocal minority.

[JRX]

Should have gone the Kramer moviephone route "Why don't you just tell me who you want to play and where"

[hche]

Originally Posted by captionwanker

they are going to keep screwing over the bengals aren't they. i believe they voted against the proposal. Sucks for them, should have spoken up earlier in the week and took the heat from the vocal minority.

Well, you have Mahomes, probably the face of the NFL now? You have the Bills, a player who almost died. Then you have the Bengals. Which one is more likely to get screwed?

[TSonn]

Originally Posted by hche

Well, you have Mahomes, probably the face of the NFL now? You have the Bills, a player who almost died. Then you have the Bengals. Which one is more likely to get screwed?

The Bills were losing the game so it sorta feels like KC is getting screwed out of a legit #1. I had money on the Bengals to win and they looked like the better team through 8 minutes at least.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by TSonn

The Bills were losing the game so it sorta feels like KC is getting screwed out of a legit #1. I had money on the Bengals to win and they looked like the better team through 8 minutes at least.

First quarter leads of 4 points always hold up!

[TSonn]

Originally Posted by JRX

First quarter leads of 4 points always hold up!

Easier to hold up than being down 4 points.

[cruiserdaddy7]

Originally Posted by JRX

First quarter leads of 4 points always hold up!

The bengals also were driving and at midfield with a first down. Could have easily been 10-3 or even 14-3. Bills also would have had 2 injuries in the secondary which would have made Burrows job even easier.

[MFaulkCollector]

Originally Posted by TSonn

Their decision is very much an "everyone gets a participation trophy" answer to the problem they caused.

If the neutral site is Lucas Oil, doesn't that significantly benefit the Bengals? Does the NFL release 50/50 tickets to each team for a neutral site game?

Assuming they pick a neutral site like Dallas, Phoenix, or Vegas…… I actually think the league got an A for this. I generally think I have common sense and can reason through things… and can adapt to situations….. yet I never once considered an if/then outcome for home field with a potential neutral site. It’s significantly better than anything I could think of

GB10 above with the 8 teams……. I also like that idea a lot, but I think the route they chose is actually the best option I’ve heard or considered. Good for them

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by MFaulkCollector

Assuming they pick a neutral site like Dallas, Phoenix, or Vegas…… I actually think the league got an A for this. I generally think I have common sense and can reason through things… and can adapt to situations….. yet I never once considered an if/then outcome for home field with a potential neutral site. It’s significantly better than anything I could think of

GB10 above with the 8 teams……. I also like that idea a lot, but I think the route they chose is actually the best option I’ve heard or considered. Good for them

Sounds like common sense to me.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by MFaulkCollector

Assuming they pick a neutral site like Dallas, Phoenix, or Vegas…… I actually think the league got an A for this. I generally think I have common sense and can reason through things… and can adapt to situations….. yet I never once considered an if/then outcome for home field with a potential neutral site. It’s significantly better than anything I could think of

GB10 above with the 8 teams……. I also like that idea a lot, but I think the route they chose is actually the best option I’ve heard or considered. Good for them

For the sake of competitiveness, they should have forced an outcome to the Bills/Bengals game one way or another.

But for the sake of league image, with competitiveness secondary, this was a pretty decent outcome. What I like about it:

-No changes to the actual structure of the playoffs (i.e. adding an 8th team)
-Teams have incentives to play starters and win this weekend
-Each of the top 3 teams gained some advantage that is to some degree offset by a disadvantage:
___-Chiefs control fate on the 1 seed, however, they cannot host home AFC Champ game vs Buffalo
___-Bills don't have to worry about going to KC during the playoffs (provided they win week 18), but they lost control of 1 seed
___-Bengals were granted the division title, but now face the possibility of playing a road game vs a team with a lower winning % in round 1

I call this the 'least bad' option

[DrZman]

Not to sound like a complete biased a-hole but how do the Bills not come off looking kinda bad here? They could have just taken a forfeit and not affected any other team but themselves. They were losing the game, and it would be great gesture to show just how much bigger than the game this all is. What does it matter to swallow a loss in a game you were already losing? Instead they make the league bend over backwards to find another solution and they’d rather stand by and watch the team that agreed to stop playing for them get completely screwed.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by DrZman

Not to sound like a complete biased a-hole but how do the Bills not come off looking kinda bad here? They could have just taken a forfeit and not affected any other team but themselves. They were losing the game, and it would be great gesture to show just how much bigger than the game this all is. What does it matter to swallow a loss in a game you were already losing? Instead they make the league bend over backwards to find another solution and they’d rather stand by and watch the team that agreed to stop playing for them get completely screwed.

Eh, that would be like one player being the blame for his team's "L" by virtue of suffering a heart attack. Player safety in the NFL is a league wide thing. Burrow said it best - whatever they want to do, we'll roll with it (paraphrasing).

Its a crappy situation that involved one of their own. And by "one of their own" I mean a league player, not just a Bills' player.

[DrZman]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

Eh, that would be like one player being the blame for his team's "L" by virtue of suffering a heart attack. Player safety in the NFL is a league wide thing. Burrow said it best - whatever they want to do, we'll roll with it (paraphrasing).

Its a crappy situation that involved one of their own. And by "one of their own" I mean a league player, not just a Bills' player.

Fair point I didn’t really think how that would kinda put the loss on him. Hope I didn’t come off as too insensitive just felt like they could’ve put an end to all this silliness by themselves. And that teams already gonna fight with everything going forward now I don’t think it would derail them at all to just have conceded and moved on.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by DrZman

Fair point I didn’t really think how that would kinda put the loss on him. Hope I didn’t come off as too insensitive just felt like they could’ve put an end to all this silliness by themselves. And that teams already gonna fight with everything going forward now I don’t think it would derail them at all to just have conceded and moved on.

Its a fair question.

I think the league would have been more mercenary about it but they knew the backlash would be swift and unrelenting and reinforce the "league doesn't care about payer safety" narrative that exists... certainly the other clubs all wanted a chance to get positioning and home field on merit.

Between the logistics and politics of the situation, its a tough one.

No one will remember the details about the playoff/playoff seeding in a few years, hopefully we all just remember that the young man recovered fully.

[Gthompson1978]

Originally Posted by tjforce

For the sake of competitiveness, they should have forced an outcome to the Bills/Bengals game one way or another.

But for the sake of league image, with competitiveness secondary, this was a pretty decent outcome. What I like about it:

-No changes to the actual structure of the playoffs (i.e. adding an 8th team)
-Teams have incentives to play starters and win this weekend
-Each of the top 3 teams gained some advantage that is to some degree offset by a disadvantage:
___-Chiefs control fate on the 1 seed, however, they cannot host home AFC Champ game vs Buffalo
___-Bills don't have to worry about going to KC during the playoffs (provided they win week 18), but they lost control of 1 seed
___-Bengals were granted the division title, but now face the possibility of playing a road game vs a team with a lower winning % in round 1

I call this the 'least bad' option

What was the scenario if the Bengals win this weekend, they host a home game regardless? I can’t remember

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

Its a fair question.

I think the league would have been more mercenary about it but they knew the backlash would be swift and unrelenting and reinforce the "league doesn't care about payer safety" narrative that exists... certainly the other clubs all wanted a chance to get positioning and home field on merit.

Between the logistics and politics of the situation, its a tough one.

No one will remember the details about the playoff/playoff seeding in a few years, hopefully we all just remember that the young man recovered fully.

Resuming the game Monday, playing it Tuesday, or playing it Wednesday had nothing to do with player safety.

Like I said, it’s a pity party for the Bills as they’re the only team receiving any generosity from all of this. The NFL managed to turn a sympathetic situation and feel good story into one that’s easy to root against.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Gthompson1978

What was the scenario if the Bengals win this weekend, they host a home game regardless? I can’t remember

Bengals win then they get the division, no strings attached. That comes with a first round bye.

[SleeperCards]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Bengals win then they get the division, no strings attached. That comes with a first round bye.

What? I don't think that's right, I'm still not 100% what the official scenario is so much stuff has been floated.