NFL won’t resume Bills-Bengals game

Posted by Mike Florio on January 5, 2023, 2:45 PM EST
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It’s official. Almost.

We’ve heard since last night that signs are pointing to an official announcement that the Week 17 Bills-Bengals game won’t resume. Earlier this afternoon, we explained that the game most likely won’t continue, and that the league was otherwise trying to determine playoff seeding, given that the Bills and Bengals will finish the season with only 16 games each.

Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press now reports that the Bills-Bengals game will not continue. This seems to be a precursor to an official announcement, which likely will come today.

The NFL Players Association has scheduled a press briefing for 4:00 p.m. ET, regarding the Damar Hamlin situation.

There is no firm reporting on what the league will do regarding AFC playoff seeding. Various possibilities have been mentioned and discussed. There is no perfect option.

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115 responses to “NFL won’t resume Bills-Bengals game”

  2. Only right. Nobody will be up for playing that game anyway. Now – what happens about the seedings?

  5. If they don’t expand the playoffs to 8 teams with no byes and KC wraps up the #1 seed Saturday, this is a bad look on the NFL.

  8. I don’t get what’s so hard.
    Play the games this weekend and there are your standings.
    Any team that whines about their situation is “not fair” can talk to the kid in that hospital room about “fair”.

  9. For those of you that can’t put your heart above your football, put an asterisk next to this year’s super bowl champion and move on. This comment section is not for you.

  10. Chiefs given #1 seed, while Bengals, Bills, and Ravens all screwed by not finishing the game next week.

  11. Good decision.

    Now time to go back to work. Bad things happen in workplaces all over America everyday, you deal with it and then get back to work. The world keeps spinning and as much as it sucks, life must go on.

  12. The teams will be playing again this weekend no matter what. Why not get the game in and determine it on the field?

  13. Unreal. These teams need to both be disqualified from the post season. So they both essentially get an extra bye week to rest their players? The league showed the Steelers no mercy when our player was paralyzed on the field. This is really unfair, especially since we dominated the bengals when we played them earlier this year.

  16. People made bets all season. Long shot bets for all kinds of things. The NFL is going to get sued by all kinds of people whose bets cannot be legitimately won or lost. Nothing can be considered fair if they do this.They are partners with the gambling establishment and will be parties to lawsuits. Deep pockets.

  18. minime says:
    January 5, 2023 at 2:48 pm

    Unfair to both teams.
    Terrible decision.

    ======================================

    You’re right, it’s not fair. But there’s a lot of things in the NFL and in life that are not fair. It’s not fair when a game is decided on a bad call. It’s not fair when a team has to play an unbalanced schedule. It’s not fair when one team plays multiple games on the road with short rest. But it’s also the right call. It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the league to start monkeying around with the schedule either.

    At the end of the day, a correct, but unfair call.

  19. Surprise to no one, everyone in the comments and on twitter is upset. There was no right solution. Can we just accept the decision and move on here? You can’t just move the entire playoffs back. Yeah it was done for 9/11, 4 months before the playoffs, not a week.

    On Monday literally every single person said, football and games don’t matter, only health of Damar.

    Now everyone is outraged about the decision because it affects their team playoff seeding.

    Society needs help.

  21. Does everyone supporting the cancelation of this game and essentially handing the #1 seed to KC truly believe this is what Hamlin wants? Based on his first comments, I seriously doubt it.

  23. Anywhere but KC. Head to head & NFL best point differential & + 56 over KC should result in a neutral field or Highmark with Bills win over Pats.

  24. It was the only call to make. The minor problem it creates with seeding is just part of life. Can’t be moving all the playoffs. Everyone from the stadiums to vendors and fans have made plans here. Businesses in surrounding areas have staffed special for these days. If you have a problem with this I say toughen up. If this is the worse thing to happen to you today you had a great day.

  25. minime says:
    January 5, 2023 at 2:48 pm
    Unfair to both teams.
    Terrible decision.
    _____________

    The Bills players do not want to continue the game. Likewise, Joe Burrow said that the Bengals want to do whatever the Bills want to do. Thus, it is not unfair to either team.

  26. minime says:
    January 5, 2023 at 2:48 pm
    Unfair to both teams.
    Terrible decision.
    —————

    It’s the right call. What I don’t like is it will most likely allow borderline teams unreservedly back in to the playoffs.

  27. WildGarlic says:

    January 5, 2023 at 2:47 pm

    Only right. Nobody will be up for playing that game anyway. Now – what happens about the seedings
    ————–
    Both teams will be playing a game anyway, it has absolutely nothing to do with “nobody will be up for playing that game” it’s about the logistics of fitting the game in

  29. The players did NOT want to replay the game.

    Read that again

    The Bills and Bengals both decided. The teams that are most effected decided to do this to themselves.

    You guys screaming for them to play need to get over it and move on

  30. joeybrrrr says:
    January 5, 2023 at 2:56 pm

    Chiefs given #1 seed, while Bengals, Bills, and Ravens all screwed by not finishing the game next week.

    —

    After losing to both Buffalo and Cincy.

  31. Would this revised 8-team AFC post-season format then virtually allow another Wild Card team into the playoffs, thus eliminating a bye for the team with best record? Would it mean that two teams–not one–among Pittsburgh, Miami and New England, would qualify for the playoffs?

  32. In the immediate aftermath of the game cancellation Monday night, I told my friends this is not how I want the Chiefs to get the 1 seed. There is some serious bad juju to it. Is it possible the NFL makes the AFC playoff a 6 team bracket with 2 first round byes like it used to be for this year due to the situation?

  35. Sad state of humanity when people are more concerned with team seedings and Fantasy Football finals…
    The only perfect outcome of this situation is when Hamlin is walking out of that hospital completely healthy… Everything else is trivial.

  36. It is the right call. They should go by winning percentage .lf both the bills and chiefs win this week. The bills will be number one seed. The bills already beat the chiefs this season

  37. Worst decision, Bengals lose a home game, lose opportunity to get #1 seed, Bengals and Bills players potentially lose money tied to performance bonuses, Negatively impacts Ravens and other teams that weren’t involved in the game it literally causes so many issues. The best move is, was and will always be to play the game. People saying they wouldn’t Bills wouldn’t be ready or Bengals wouldn’t be ready is ridiculous, the NFL is cancelling the season they are cancelling one game if it was about what the players on these teams needed to overcome the trauma they probably aren’t playing this Sunday either.

  38. The refs risk having a subliminal bias towards the Bills. It’s just human nature. It’s also possible that an attempt to correct that potential bias causes the refs to make fewer calls in favor of the Bills.

  39. minime says:
    January 5, 2023 at 2:48 pm
    Unfair to both teams.
    Terrible decision.

    251139Rate This
    ——————————————————————————————–
    The Bills don’t want to play. How is this unfair? They can take the forfeit or Cincy can hold their hands and make it a tie. Done.

  41. roth19 says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:01 pm
    Surprise to no one, everyone in the comments and on twitter is upset. There was no right solution. Can we just accept the decision and move on here? You can’t just move the entire playoffs back. Yeah it was done for 9/11, 4 months before the playoffs, not a week.

    On Monday literally every single person said, football and games don’t matter, only health of Damar.

    Now everyone is outraged about the decision because it affects their team playoff seeding.

    Society needs help.

    9367Rate This
    —————————————————————————————–
    Anyone who really believed that “the only thing that matters is Demar” line hasn’t been on this planet for very long.

  42. Right call. I wonder if the stats count though. Not that there were many. Some players may have incentives including games played, yardage, etc.

  46. Wow. Amazing how many people are down on this decision. If the players themselves are okay to roll with the punches, control what they can control and let the rest go, pretty sure the rest of us can deal with it. It’s just a game.

  49. No matter what they did someone was going to be upset about any decision. Its like getting everyone to agree on a pizza, this is the plain pizza of options. Everyone won’t love it but they will eat it.

  50. Now that Hamlin is awake I’m gonna say it. The bills should forfeit, their head coach wanted to go to the hospital and while I understand that, it is the definition of a forfeit. This solves literally every scheduling issue. Can’t make everyone happy but that’s what should happen.

  51. Why not give both the Bills and Bengals wins and let Sat/Sun results determine seeding. Whatever they do they cannot allow the Chiefs to backdoor/weasel into HFA. Imagine losing your starting safety and HFA to a team that didn’t earn it

  52. This has WWE written all over it. Watch the Bengals and Bills meet in the AFC championship. It would definitely make for high ratings.

  53. I don’t get it.
    If players are worried about safety and are too concerned to play, scrap the remainder of the season. Otherwise, if it’s business as usual playing games this weekend, it should be full business as usual with normal rules and a full slate of games.

  54. Its already been pointed out, but even Damar wanted to know the result of the game. This is a crucial match-up. The Bills are now OK to play the Pats but not resume this game? I don’t understand this and am not a fan of the choice. Push the schedule back and get rid of the media week (super bowl) bye instead.

  55. Certainly, any fan can argue that it tips the balance one way or another by not having an equal no. of games but what else is the league supposed to do? It’s a very unique situation that required a precedent setting decision. Here’s hoping it never repeats itself.

  56. Explain why you can’t move the entire playoffs back a week? it’s not like all the games are set with time slots and tickets already sold and thousands of hotel rooms paid for…. some teams aren’t even locked in yet, not knowing if they will even make the playoffs. Teams locked in are still jockeying for home field advantage and byes. Literally nothing is set yet, so there is absolutely nothing holding the league back from pushing the playoffs 1 week and getting the game in.

  57. Unfair to both teams.
    Terrible decision.

    ===
    My guess is the teams were heavily consulted along with the players on this. So good decision actually.

  58. So if ravens beat bengals Sunday, and it makes them 2-0 over bengals. How can you not say they are afc north winners with same number of wins. Now, that said Lamar has quite quit so bengals will win. But still wondering

  59. I think this is the wrong decision. The NFL does not seem to have a clue on how to handle this situation.

  61. mrmajestyk says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:35 pm
    Certainly, any fan can argue that it tips the balance one way or another by not having an equal no. of games but what else is the league supposed to do?

    ————-

    Play the game

  62. They should just cancel the season because canceling this game completely messes up the AFC seeding. So much for integrity of the game!

  63. theimmaculatedeception says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:32 pm
    Why not give both the Bills and Bengals wins and let Sat/Sun results determine seeding

    ———-

    How is that fair to KC and other teams that need on of them to lose?

  64. It’s possible they just say the final score was 7-3 Bengals. That way everything else stays the same. The Bengals were winning when the game ended. Every team plays 17 games. Seems like the best scenario.

  65. mrpennypacker74 says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:19 pm
    Sad state of humanity when people are more concerned with team seedings and Fantasy Football finals…
    The only perfect outcome of this situation is when Hamlin is walking out of that hospital completely healthy… Everything else is trivial

    ———-

    So what are you saying….that there should be no more for all this season until Hamlin leaves the hospital?

  66. snake19whodey says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:26 pm
    AFC North Champs once again.

    Who Dey
    ==============================

    …with an asterisk (*)

  67. Wow, what a windfall for the Chiefs. Not only do they get the No. 1 seed and all the advantages that brings, they will also not have to play both the Bills and the Bengals in the post-season. They will (very likely) get the winner of the Jags (or Titans)/Chargers (or Ravens) game, while the Bills and Bengals play each other in the divisional round. If the Chiefs get to and win the Super Bowl this year, it will come with a gigantic asterisk.

  68. Assuming this ends up being (1) Chiefs, (2) Bills and (3) Bengals, obviously the Bills losing the 1 seed, the Chiefs gaining the 1 seed and the Bengals not allowed to improve to the : or 1 seed is a horrible outcome for the Bills and Bengals, whose players have played all tear toward achieving the best position and are being denied that opportunity. That said, someone has to bite the bullet and it looks the Bengals are taking the biggest bite with no chance to host either of these teams if that’s how it plays out. Regardless, the one thing that should absolutely not happen, is that none of these three teams, assuming two of them are in the conference final, should have that game on their home field because it’s a huge advantage that none would have truly earned. The obvious solution would be to have that game played indoors in Indianapolis, a location that is relatively close to all 3 cities and fan bases. Each of the 2 teams could be allocated 50% of the tickets and they can choose to do what they want with the revenue, although clearly donating to heart and pulmonary research would appear to be the best way to go. Thoughts?

  69. Moving events can have a domino effect in places that already have functions scheduled in place and paid for.

    If changed, there will be lawsuits everywhere.

    Remember when the league had to pay the automakers (?) back in 2002 and give them FREE advertising during the Superbowl?

  70. IF the game is not re-played and both the Bills and Chiefs win in week 18, the Chiefs will get the first seed….if they go by winning percentage.

  71. What if both teams got the “win” and it was a coin flip between the Chiefs and Bills for AFC home field throughout the playoffs. Sure, it’s random but both top teams have an equal opportunity to be the AFC champs.

    *************

    I wonder what the emotions will be like if the Bengals and Bills meet again in the playoffs.

  72. The first thing Hamlin asked when he woke up was who won the game. that should show you where his mind was. The only winner in this situation is the Chiefs go figure

  73. Raise your hand if you think ANY person or player in the Ravens organization thinks scrubbing the BUF/CIN is fair.

  74. Steelers approve of an 8th seed moving forward to make this fair for all parties.

  75. My problem is not the decision but wonder does the NFL ever make emergency plans in case a game cannot be completed? The game was on Monday and only on Thursday we are hearing rumors of a decision and it’s still not official. I would not buy insurance from these people.

  76. The NFL needs to get their contingency plans for (hopefully not) more situations like this one hammered out before the new league year. They were bound to make some people unhappy no matter what they decided here.

  78. nhpats2011 says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:41 pm
    theimmaculatedeception says:
    January 5, 2023 at 3:32 pm
    Why not give both the Bills and Bengals wins and let Sat/Sun results determine seeding

    ———-

    How is that fair to KC and other teams that need on of them to lose?

    —————–

    Fair for KC???? They lost to both teams this year!

  79. The KC Chiefs should not be handed the #1 seed and playoffs bye
    (if they beat the Raiders Saturday).
    The Bills/Bengals game should be played (with NFC Wildcard games because if the Bills win,they should be the #1 seed and have the bye and home field advantage because they would have earned it over the Chiefs.

  80. Here’s a possible solution that I haven’t seen proposed yet: finish the Bills/Bengals game this Sunday, and have the Ravens play the Patriots. Problem (mostly) solved.

  81. So if KC beats OAK on Sat, the Bills will know Sat that they
    (1) have no shot at the #1 seed
    (2) will be playing next week, and
    (3) may decide to rest their players (think QB Allen) vs NE.

    The NYJ and PGH need BUF to beat NE for a shot at the #7 seed.

    NFL, effectively to them: “We don’t care.”

  83. I don’t get why you all are so mad? The two teams don’t want to resume the game and are willing to let things fall the way they fall. I get it hurts fantasy and bets but life is much more important than those things. This is entertainment and shouldn’t be more important than actually living.

  84. Ok, but eveyone should get a 3/4 refund (at least) bc less than a quarter was played.

  85. I know this isn’t fair, but the Bills should be forced to forfeit the game and award the Bengals the win.

    It isn’t fair to either team, but the Bengals should have the opportunity to win the 1 seed.

  86. Let’s face it. Nobody needed a 17th regular season game except the NFL powers-that-be who want to wring every last dollar out of the public.

  87. So the Bengals now have no shot to get the #1 seed even if both the Bills and Chiefs lose this weekend.
    Chiefs getting homefield despite being only 3-3 in non-divisional conference games, including losses to Buffalo and Cincinnati who are both 5-0 in that regard, is just wrong and unfair.

  90. For once the NFL got it right. I cannot imagine that anyone from either team wants to finish this game. Glad to hear that Damar is doing better. Wishing him the best.

  91. As much as I like watching the NFL I find all these comments about fairness to be a joke.. There is no integrity or fairness in a sport where the schedule does not require everyone to play everyone else in a proper league style as most countries use in soccer. The playoffs are simply a moneymaking exercise, sadly being introduced in other sports around the world. It’s crazy that in the NFL you can be “Champions of the World” but not necessarily the champion of a four team division.

  95. Let KC have first seed. Likely they will gal it away anyway. Bills might become a “ team of destiny” and Cincy doesn’t seem too daunted by the Chiefs.

  96. “ On Monday literally every single person said, football and games don’t matter, only health of Damar.” It’s no longer Monday and this is creating a competitive issue that can be fixed by PLAYING THE GAME. Guess what? We can play the game AND care about Damar! Amazing!

  99. If the Chiefs win they will have 14 wins, which would be the most in the AFC = #1 seed. Which they had a shot at anyway if the Bengals would of won. Have no fear though. I see a bunch of calls going the Bill’s way in the playoffs. Get your popcorn.

  100. Move over Pats, the Bills are the new darling team. They were losing and they couldn’t finish. They should be declared the losers or finish the game! WOW!

  101. I hope all teams remember this the next time one of their players is carted of in an ambulance. WOW!

  103. If all 3 teams win this week: if KC plays BUF, play it on a neutral field. If BUF plays Cincy, play it on a neutral field. And there are other scenarios depending on the outcomes of games this weekend that would also make sense to play on neutral fields. Not worth laying out every scenario, but you get the idea…

    Someone is still getting an unearned bye, and probably more important, the likelihood of getting to avoid playing two games against those opponents rather than just one against the winner, but that’s probably as close to fair as you can get…

  104. There literally is no right or wrong decision here. The NFL is going to be applauded and crucified all at the same time regardless. Yes, this affects seedings but no, it doesn’t affect who gets into the playoffs. On the bright side, a life was saved. I’ll trade a life saved for a lower seeding any day.

  105. Seems like all Bengal fans are only concerned with the possibility of losing to the Ravens, not winning the AFC North, and no home games.

    Cincinnati: 3 AFC Championships. ZERO Superbowl wins!

  106. If the Bengals and the Bills are as good as their fans say they are, they should be able to beat KC in KC.

  107. Complicated problem and I don’t know what the best solution would be, but I’m happy that Damar is improving.

  108. So the Bengals now have no shot to get the #1 seed even if both the Bills and Chiefs lose this weekend.

    Chiefs getting homefield despite being only 3-3 in non-divisional conference games, including losses to Buffalo and Cincinnati who are both 5-0 in that regard, is just wrong and unfair.

    I like that you are assuming Cincy will win while everyone else loses. Chiefs have an overall better record than Cincy, so I am not sure why you feel Cincy should have the number one seed over KC. KC is undefeated in their division. Cincy can’t even win their division.

  109. Bill-Bengals week 17 matters! Playoff implications. Can’t have a fair season without playing that game. Money for the rich wins out over ensuring the integrity of the game.

  111. If KC wins this weekend, they should be the number 1 seed. Because if Cincy had beaten the Bills and the Raven and KC won out, KC would be the number 1 seed. The only team who could argue with that is the Bills, and they needed to win their last two games to have an argument. Unfortunately, they did not win both of their last two games. I don’t think they should just be given a game.

  113. Listen… If 2 teams are tied… there is a list of things you do in order to break the tie breaker. The last tie breaker is a coin flip.
    I think its fair to assume that it was roughly a 50-50 game. Thats why the point spread was 1 point.

    Instead of ruining the schedule and still being a disadvantage for both the Bills + Bengals…
    Let’s flip a Coin at Half time of Sunday Nights game to see who wins the game.
    This will make it so KC, Buffalo, Raven and Bengals all have something MORE to play for.
    Unless we decide to fit in the Bills + Bengals game… I’d rather have a coin flip than basically handing KC the 1 seed + telling the Ravens ur out of luck in winning the Division.

  114. These two teams chose not to play this game. They chose it on Monday night, and they were certainly involved in the choice the NFL has now made to never continue play.

    It may have been the right choice, but it was still a choice they made, and no other team should be punished for those choices. They mutually decided to forfeit the game. It should go down as a loss for both of them. Any other outcome trivializes the circumstances, and invites future strategery related to injuries and game cancellations.

  115. This is such a tragic event why does anyone even wanna watch football after that time to end the sport in the name of feelings and mental health.

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