NFL cancels Payments-Bengals sport, plans vote Friday to implement two main modifications for AFC playoffs

The NFL has canceled the Payments-Bengals sport that was beforehand postponed on Monday night time. The league has additionally deliberate a vote Friday with two changes for the AFC playoffs on the desk.

Whereas the NFL‘s cancellation determination is not going to affect which groups make the playoffs, it might affect seedings, which is why the league has give you a number of potential rule adjustments to even out the aggressive inequities that not taking part in the sport will create. 

Below the proposal that will likely be voted on by house owners, the AFC Championship might doubtlessly grow to be a neutral-site sport if any of the three following situations are met: 

• State of affairs 1: If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis each win or each tie in Week 18, then a Buffalo vs. Kansas Metropolis championship sport could be at a impartial website.
• State of affairs 2: If the Payments and Chiefs each lose in Week 18 and Baltimore wins or ties with the Bengals, then a Buffalo vs. Kansas Metropolis championship sport could be at a impartial website.
• State of affairs 3: If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis each lose and Cincinnati beats Baltimore, then a Payments or Bengals vs. Chiefs championship sport could be at a impartial website.

The NFL can also be giving the Ravens an opportunity to presumably host a wild-card sport although Baltimore cannot mathematically win the AFC North. Even when the Ravens win on Sunday towards the Bengals, that might put them at 11-6, which might nonetheless be a half sport behind the Cincinnati, who would end 11-5 with a loss. 

Below that situation, the Ravens would not win the division although they swept the Bengals AND had a greater division file. To repair that drawback, the proposal on the desk is that the NFL will flip a coin to see who hosts a Ravens-Bengals wild-card sport if: 

1. The Ravens beat the Bengals on Sunday, and …
2. If the 2 groups are scheduled to play one another within the wild-card spherical. 

Each the AFC Championship proposal and the Ravens proposal will likely be voted on Friday. 

“As we thought-about the soccer schedule, our rules have been to restrict disruption throughout the league and reduce aggressive inequities,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated of why the league got here to those two selections. “I acknowledge that there isn’t any excellent resolution. The proposal we’re asking the possession to think about, nonetheless, addresses probably the most important potential equitable points created by the troublesome, however needed, determination to not play the sport below these extraordinary circumstances.”

The circumstances Goodell is referring to is the scenario involving Damar Hamlin. The Payments and Bengals performed for almost 9 minutes on Monday night time earlier than the sport was stopped after the Payments security went into cardiac arrest on the sector. After being given CPR, Hamlin was taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical center, the place he is been listed in vital situation for the previous three days. 

The one factor on the NFL’s thoughts over the previous 72 hours has been the well being of Hamlin, which has improved remarkably over the previous 24 hours. Two members of Hamlin’s medical group held a press conference on Thursday and revealed that not solely is he transferring each his legs and arms, however he is additionally been in a position to talk by way of writing with family and friends. (He even asked who won the Bills-Bengals game whereas speaking with a nurse on Wednesday night time.)

“This has been a really troublesome week,” Goodell stated in a press release. “We proceed to give attention to the restoration of Damar Hamlin and are inspired by the enhancements in his situation in addition to the great outpouring of assist and take care of Damar and his household from throughout the nation.”

With Hamlin’s well being enhancing, the NFL lastly sat down to determine what the following transfer needs to be with the Payments-Bengals sport. With that out of the best way, the following step for the league will now come on Friday when the league votes to presumably implement these two extraordinary measures for the playoffs. 

With the cancellation, this can mark the primary time since 1935 that each NFL team hasn’t performed the identical quantity of video games.