The NFL introduced Thursday night time it won’t resume the Monday night time sport between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
The canceled sport, which was initially postponed after Bills security Damar Hamlin collapsed and was hospitalized resulting from cardiac arrest suffered at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium, had vital AFC playoff implications.
A league announcement on Thursday night time supplied readability on what meaning for the AFC playoff image.
The Kansas City Chiefs are actually the No. 1 seed after the Bills misplaced their likelihood to carry on to the convention’s high spot. The Bills are actually No. 2 with the Bengals remaining at 3.
What does that imply for the Miami Dolphins?
Their Week 18 playoff eventualities stay the identical heading into Sunday. The Dolphins nonetheless want a win over the New York Jets in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium and for the New England Patriots to lose on the Bills on the identical time.
What is now simplified with the newest growth is which group the Dolphins will go to within the wild card spherical ought to they qualify for the postseason.
Should Miami, which might solely get in at No. 7 within the AFC, get the 2 outcomes it wants and the Chiefs win towards the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, the Dolphins will face the No. 2 Bills in Buffalo.
If the Chiefs lose whereas the Dolphins get these two outcomes, Miami visits Kansas City, which might fall to No. 2 in that state of affairs.
The league cited three elements for not ending the Bills-Bengals sport: the result would haven’t any impact on which groups qualify for the postseason; taking part in the sport would alter the playoff schedule for all 14 qualifying groups; and never taking part in the sport would permit all golf equipment to know their postseason eventualities earlier than their regular-season finales.
With the choice having implications on the AFC’s high seed, the NFL may play a neutral-site AFC Championship Game in sure eventualities which may’ve flipped seeding with a Bills-Bengals end result.
The Chiefs can clinch the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye with a win Saturday, however they nonetheless might play a neutral-site AFC title sport if Buffalo additionally wins and the 2 meet for an opportunity to advance to the Super Bowl.
The Bills would nonetheless have the No. 2 seed to safe on Sunday towards New England, plus they might power that neutral-site state of affairs for the AFC Championship spherical.
The Bengals may power that very same state of affairs in the event that they win towards the Baltimore Ravens and the Chiefs and Bills each lose. Cincinnati, whereas clinching the AFC North earlier than its Week 18 house sport towards Baltimore, may now have the location of a possible first-round assembly with the Ravens determined by a coin flip. This happens if the Bengals lose to Baltimore they usually meet in a No. 3 vs. No. 6 wild card-round sport.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com