Who is the higher seed if Bengals win and Bills lose?
Cincy according to ESPN’s playoff machine. But to me it doesn’t sound like there’s a reason to care whether you’re #2 or #3.
Edit: well by winning, Cincy avoids having to coinflip for HFA against Baltimore (if Buffalo wins Week 18).
Bengals only coin flip for home field in the first round of the playoffs if they are exactly the 3 seed and Baltimore is exactly the 6 seed.
By my calculations, this only happens if Cinci loses to Baltimore and the Chargers lose to Denver. If those two things happen, Cinci flips for home field. My calculations based on betting odds last night came out to something like a 7.5% chance of Cinci getting hyper-dongered (and they control their own destiny by it becoming moot if they defeat the Ravens).
This is correct - the scenario where the Bills and Cinci are tied after week 18 (BUF loss, CIN win) results in identical records, conference records, and record against common opponents. Cinci would win the next tiebreaker (Strength of Victory).
In light of the cancellation, if KC wins tomorrow, does Buffalo have any reason not to rest Sunday? It seems to me that a bet on the Pats is essentially a bet on KC but without laying odds, plus you still have equity if KC loses. But I can’t help but think I’m missing something since BUF is still such a heavy favorite even after the cancellation.
If all 3 teams win, then CIN gets the 3 seed which is a crime for a divisional game at BUF. CIN will be a game behind BUF and could have earned the 2 seed by winning on Monday.
It should either be a flip or neutral field for that game.
That does seem like a reasonable suggestion. I think the counter-point is that there isn’t an imbalanced number of games played such that the typical tiebreakers don’t work as well. But yeah, if attempting to follow the doctrine of absolute fairness, I think either flipping or neutral site-ing that game makes sense.
One place mentioned early on is Indianapolis.
Possibly the most boring, soulless stadium in the entire league
Breathing tube is out. Looks really good for total recovery.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1611373647389945857
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The theoretical tiebreak in this case is heads up? I guess I don’t know if that a 2v3 seed factor. CIN is a game behind in conference record, so again if they had won heads up that would be tied as well.
If we assume CIN beat BUF but CIN would still be the 3 seed, then we shuffle off to Buffalo.
Has there ever been a one-off “no contest” in modern NFL?
going to be a dc from the icu at this point.
(That’s a good thing, rapidly getting better)
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Typical death panels unplugging people in the hospital, imo.
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Odds that Hamlin plays again? Seems pretty close to 100%.
Well, at least he is going to want to. I can imagine teams being reluctant to throw him out there.
Barring some kind of mental block impacting him, he’s probably coming back.
I mean I’d have a real hard time coming back to do something after nearly dying from it
I guess if it really was some sort of one-off freak accident and he is not at higher risk for it to happen again than anyone else, it’s probably fine. Gonna feel weird for everyone else though.
The early talk of his lungs having to heal makes me worried that there’s some permanent damage there, I feel like it’s one of those things where even if he gets to 95%, he’ll be totally fine and not notice in regular day-to-day life but that might be enough that he can’t perform at a professional level.
Something like fighting to get back on the field and play a few games just to prove something, and then retire, doesn’t seem out of the question either. Kinda like Alex Smith coming back from having his leg turned sideways.
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Probably significantly lower than 100%. If there’s something about his heart that makes him more susceptible to on field cardiac arrest I’d imagine he’s going to retire. With his newfound fame he’d probably be able to get a nice gig commentating as well.