First and foremost, there’s been some great news about Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin‘s progress since the scary scene during the team’s Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and had to be given CPR and revived using a defibrillator before being transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in critical condition.
Since then, Hamlin has remained intubated and in ICU in critical condition. But today, we learned that Hamlin is awake and “neurologically intact,” even communicating with doctors via writing and asking whether his team won the game.
Of course the game was never completed, with the teams and the NFL making the (obviously correct) decision to postpone the rest of the contest.
And it sounds like the NFL has no plans to finish the game.
According to the AP, the NFL has made the decision not to resume the contest that was postponed in the first quarter with the Bengals up 7-3.
The sources who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity say that the NFL is still working on figuring out what to do about playoff seeding, given that the game would have had major playoff implications as both teams sit atop their respective divisions of the AFC.
The Bills needed a win against the Bengals to remain the #1 seed in the AFC, a spot which is now occupied by the Chiefs given the no-contest. The Bengals also still remain in the hunt for the top seed, needing two more wins and a loss by the Chiefs.
The NFL is reportedly considering moving the AFC Championship Game, which is generally held at the home stadium of the highest-seeded team in the game, to a neutral site. Another option would be to allow the #1 seed to pick either home field advantage OR the first-round bye week, and give the other to the #2 seed.
There is also reportedly the possibility of expanding both the AFC and NFC playoff fields to eight teams,
Regardless of what they decide to do, the most important thing here is that Damar Hamlin is improving. So whatever the NFL decides to do ultimately doesn’t really matter.
But it’s great that we’re at a place where we’re able to think about it now after the scary scene on the field on Monday.
