As the NFL community awaits more updates on Damar Hamlin and prays for a speedy recovery, the league is also actively working on what to do with the rest of the regular season and the following postseason.
There is no precedent for what the NFL is facing right now. An NFL game has never before started, been postponed and never resumed, according to CBS Sports research. And the league has not witnessed since 1935 a season in which some teams play more matches than others, when Philadelphia and Boston each played 11 games in a 12-game schedule, with their match canceled due to bad weather.
The NFL’s simplest scheduling option is to go ahead with its full slate of Week 18 games, which the league announced Tuesday it plans to do, and then ultimately rule the Bills-Bengals game a no contest or a tie.
“That conversation started about what we’re doing with this game,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president for communications, public affairs and policy, said Wednesday afternoon. “[NFL EVP of football operations] Troy [Vincent]authorized [Roger Goodell]Some of us participate in those conversations, but they continue.
“Obviously we will have to decide on that in the coming days, which we will. But there are a lot of considerations put in there and a lot of people we want to consult with – including the clubs involved – before this decision is final.”
While there is no established precedent for what to do here, there is some sort of roadmap in the form of the “League Unfair Acts and Contingency in the Policy Handbook for Member Clubs: Operations of the Game” provisions, according to the NFL’s rulebook.
A source provided CBS Sports with this policy guide where it states: “[a]The power to cancel, postpone or end the Games rests solely with the Commissioner.”
The guide states that if it is impossible to reschedule a game within two days of the original date, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “will attempt to schedule it for the Wednesday of the following calendar week. The commissioner will consider the possibility of competitive inequity if it is indeed scheduled.” one or both of the clubs involved for a match close to Wednesday of that week (eg, a match on Monday or Thursday).
But moving that game to next Wednesday, January 11th, would create the kind of competitive inequality the league hopes to avoid. the Invoices And the Bengals It has to play on Sunday, then play again on Wednesday, and then one or both of them will have to play through the wild card round weekend. They will play fewer rests than any other team, and presumably their lower-seeded opponents will play more rested.
The NFL has dealt with several schedule changes in the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to COVID-19. 2020 Week 12 Game Between crows And the Steelers It had to be postponed until Wednesday.
“Everything is being considered and we hope to dive into that full forward momentum at the conclusion of this call,” Vincent said Wednesday on a media conference call. “We still obviously have to dedicate time in this particular area but all of those things, those guiding principles that took us through the 2020 season with COVID, all of those things are going to be things that guide us through this conversation.
“And making sure that there is proper fairness. And as we have seen there is probably a lack of fairness, or it may not be perfect. But it will allow those who participate, or who have earned that right to play, to continue to play.”
The manual states that if a game cannot be finished at a later date, Goodell has the power to declare a winner based on the outcome of the game at the time it is postponed or suspend the game without a winner.
With only nine minutes of the game elapsed with the Bengals leading 7-3, there is no way Goodell can claim the Bengals have won. It would be unreasonable to “expect that her appeal will not change the final outcome,” as the rulebook requires.
The manual states that if a game is suspended without a winner, Goodell will have the discretion to treat the game as a draw or set teams’ records based on winning percentage.
The guide reads “If a game is forfeited, a team’s standing in its division or conference (eg qualification as a wild card in the playoffs or position in the playoffs) will be determined on the basis of its final record”.
This is the option that, after speaking with sources over the course of the week, appears to be the least troublesome. This means that the Bills do not have to return to Cincinnati to finish the game. It will keep the rest of the league flat. The biggest question facing the league is whether a no-contest or a tie is the best option.
If a no-contest is ruled, this will require manipulation of classification qualifications to be carried out by Goodell in consultation with the club’s ownership groups.
Will the Asian Football Ranking depend on winning percentage? This seems to be the clearest way forward. Believing a tie game would eliminate the Bengals from top-seeded contention, W.J heads He will be able to secure the top seed with a win on Saturday against Raiders.
As Vincent said, the league is discussing a myriad of scenarios, and more disruptive options remain as of Wednesday afternoon. The league has long been resistant to changing its playoff calendar. Postponing the playoffs again by a week in any way would add a week of rest for teams that did not earn a single seed or potentially strip the top seed of their squad. It could also mean that both Super Bowl finalists won’t get a week off before the game in Arizona, since there’s almost no chance that Super Bowl LVII will be rescheduled for February 12.
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