With news that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has shown “remarkable improvement” and his health appears to be trending in a positive direction, the NFL can now turn its attention to determining what exactly to do about the canceled Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills game as well as the NFL playoff’s seeding, and NFL insider Adam Schefter has revealed that the league is considering a few scenarios.
First and foremost, Adam Schefter does not believe that the NFL will replay or continue Monday night’s game between the Bengals and the Bills, as has been previously reported, saying that most believe it’s “time to leave it behind” and “move forward, not back.”
With that in mind, Schefter outlined a few NFL playoffs seeding scenarios during an appearance on ESPN.
Adam Schefter believes the NFL will not look to resume the Bengals vs. Bill game and that league is working towards either a potential neutral site AFC Championship game or 1 seed choosing between getting having a bye or home field with 2 seed getting whatever not picked. pic.twitter.com/MKnRLcRGNQ
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) January 5, 2023
“There are many ideas that the league is kicking around and they now can go into overdrive knowing that doctors feel encouraged about Damar Hamlin and where he’s at in his recovery a few days after the tragic circumstances of Monday night,” Schefter said.
One plan, which Schefter said was developed by Matthew Hasselback, would call Monday night’s game a tie and allow the No. 1 seed in the NFL playoffs to select either home-field advantage throughout the playoffs or the first-round bye, with the No. 2 seed getting the other – so each team would get one or the other.
A second plan, which Schefter seems to indicate the league might be favoring, would move the AFC Championship game to a neutral site for any game between teams affected by the home-field advantage situation – the Bengals, Bills, and Kansas City Chiefs.
“If there is an AFC Championship game in the end that involves teams that don’t have the same amount of games played, where Monday night’s non-result factors into who gets home-field advantage, … I think the league would say ‘we’re not going to have any home-field advantage this year, we’re going to play the conference championship on a neutral site,'” Schefter said.
Obviously, this is an unprecedented situation and it’s hard to determine the best and most fair result. But it’s clear that the NFL is trying.
