HoosierCat

There’s no Bengals/Bills scenario because the cancelled game can’t give either one an advantage over the other.

Here’s the decision, pending full league approval: https://www.nfl.com/news/week-17-buffalo-cincinnati-game-will-not-be-resumed-neutral-afc-championship-gam

No Jackson at practice again, Huntley (shoulder/wrist) limited again. Could be Bfrown at QB Sunday. https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/tyler-huntley-injury-shoulder-anthony-brown-could-start-week-18

I have zero doubt that it will. Now it’s just an injury, not someone hovering between life and death. Huge, huge weight off of everyone’s shoulders.

Here’s Jordan Reid’s first try: Interestingly has RT Darnell Wright going to the Broncos next. Three of the four picks following that are DBs (Witherspoon, Branch and Phillips). I can’t speak to the individuals but that seems like a pretty decent mix positionally.

Absolutely. The big question was always whether anyone was still home, and it appears there is. Ought to be a huge weight off both the Bengals and Bills as well.

It’s a good call. Buffalo was already scheduled for their normal early slot, now the Bengals get their usual 1 pm start time. Anything that promotes the normal routine is good.

Jackson a no show at Ravens practice today.. Huntley didn't throw during the period the press was allowed to watch practice. https://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2023/1/4/23539260/ravens-practice-report-1-4-lamar-jackson-out-tyler-huntley-limited-marcus-peters-returns

We should start to get some clarity today. Big question is Lamar. Harbaugh said yesterday that he was just following Jackson and the doctors and offered no opinion on if/when he'd return. Jackson hasn't so much as practiced once in the last four weeks so it looks like Huntley Sunday, but again we should get more clarity on that today. No updates on the Bengals site yet.

Detail I hadn’t heard before. Per Damar’s uncle, he was resuscitated twice, once on the field and again at the hospital. If true that doesn’t sound good but I am not a doctor so… https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/01/04/damar-hamlin-condition/

My impression of what was going on, and I was just watching from home, was that it was largely chaotic outside of the medical intervention itself. I don’t think anything said/done on the field will have any bearing on the ultimate outcome. For the same reason I am not among those bitching about how long it took the league to suspend the game. I’m fine with them taking time to assess things and talk to everyone involved as well as the Union. They made the right call in the end and that’s what mattered.

Yeah this one will be a challenge. Especially for Higgins. What happened wasn’t his fault by any means but I have to think he’s working through some stuff today.

I think of it this way: there is no solution that doesn't involve some team or teams being advantaged or disadvantaged. Whether it's a seeding issue or additional bye weeks for some team(s) or the Bengals and Bills having to play again with no rest on either end of the week, there will be "football consequences," as unimportant as those are right now. So to the extent that those consequences can be limited to the two teams involved right now (the Bills and Bengals) that would probably be the least unfair outcome. And since both teams have already made the playoffs, seeding probably represents the least damage done. Again, not important right now. But that's my take.

Paying any attention to Bart Scott is always a bad idea.

Yeah, I think that's the hope at this point.

Good on Roger. This is the right call imho while we wait for word on Hamlin.

MB: https://www.bengals.com/news/mike-brown-statement-damar-hamlin-bengals-bills-week-17-2022-season

Bit of an update, continues to sound not so good... https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-damar-hamlin-suffers-cardiac-arrest-on-field-vs-bengals-family-spokesperson-says-safety-is-fighting/

Yup. There's also tons of venues that have been rented that may or may not be available the following week, same for hotel rooms, car rentals, airline flights, etc.. Moving the date would be very difficult.

That raises the question of whether the players will be paid for last night. I don't know what constitutes a "game" under the CBA, but the union was very much against cancelling games a couple years ago because it meant players didn't get a paycheck that week. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-wanted-to-cancel-week-15-postponed-games-nflpas-pushback-resulted-in-players-getting-paid/

I suspect moving the Super Bowl would be basically impossible. Easier scenario: Play week 18 as normal and then the NFC playoffs proceed on schedule. In the AFC, Bills and Bengals play on week 19, rest of the AFC playoff field is off. AFC playoffs then commence the following week. AFC championship is the week before the Super Bowl. So the NFC champ gets two weeks off before the big game versus just one for the AFC champ, but the AFC champ got an extra bye week earlier (either week 19 or, in the case it's the Bengals or Bills, this week). I remain in the just forget it and move on camp, but if they have to play the game this seems like the least disruptive model to me.

Yah, the NFL loves its money far too much to cancel another game. I fully expect them to do everything they can to restart last night's game because, y'know, money.

Just putting this one up in case there's any news related to the Ravens. No time for the game yet. UPDATE: game will be at 1 pm.

Yeah, they were looking pretty good. Ah well. We move on, hoping for the best for Hamlin.

Yup. Imho the least disruptive solution is just to bag the game completely and both teams move on with the records they have. But knowing the nfl, they will probably have each team play back to back doubleheaders, or something equally stupid. If the league office absolutely, positively has to have a W and an L on the books, just flip a freaking coin.