NFL reporter says league may not count a Chiefs game when determining playoff seeding

Pete Grathoff
·4 min read
759

There was a bit of good news Wednesday morning regarding Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

ESPN’s Coley Harvey spoke with Hamlin’s family and their friend Jordon Rooney about Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game in Cincinnati.

“Per Jordon and Damar’s family, doctors overnight got promising readings that they had been hoping to see by this morning,” Harvey tweeted. “Jordon couldn’t go into specifics, but progress appears to be made.”

That’s the kind of news everyone around the NFL wants to hear, and hopefully Hamlin will make a full recovery.

As Hamlin recovers, the NFL is moving forward, having announced Tuesday that all Week 18 games will be played as scheduled, but the Bengals-Bills game wouldn’t be resumed this week.

Should that game ultimately not be played, it would have an impact on playoff seeding, and The Star’s Jesse Newell took a look at what that might mean for the Chiefs.

Benjamin Allbright, an NFL reporter for KOA Radio in Colorado, said Tuesday the league is considering options for playoff seeding with the Chiefs, Bills and Bengals all in the running for the No. 1 seed.

“The game from last night right now is considered suspended. And it may end up being a no-contest,” Allbright said on KOA. “That’s the idea that’s being pitched around right now as a no-contest between the two. And if a seeding issue comes into play after the Week 18 stuff is done, then they will use either a random number generator to not count a game and make it even on all sides.

“At least that’s the current phrase that’s being thrown around, the current idea that’s being thrown around. Nothing has been determined officially yet but that’s the leader in the clubhouse right now, per a league office source.”

The other option is to not count the Chiefs-Broncos game from Sunday when determining the seeding.

“The two leaders in the house are you just don’t count that week’s Chiefs game, which would be the Denver Broncos game (Sunday), or they do a random number generator,” Allbright said. “It’s a 1 through 18 and they just don’t count one of those games, whatever game that number generates they don’t count that week’s game to make it random. Those are some of the things that are being floated right now as they try to figure out, try to settle all this.”

The hosts of KOA joked the Broncos could benefit by not having the result count in Denver’s 15-game losing streak to the Chiefs. But that wouldn’t be the case. The result would stand, along with all the statistics. But when the NFL decided playoff seeding, it would not count one Chiefs game.

A random number generator also could throw out, say, the Chiefs’ loss to the Colts. But using that method to determine NFL playoff seeding would be unprecedented.

Other options

NBC Sports’ Mike Florio looked at possible options for the NFL going forward and one included pushing the start of the AFC playoffs back one week.

“Week 18 would proceed as scheduled. The following weekend, the NFC wild-card games would be played, along with Bills-Bengals,” Florio wrote. “The next weekend, the AFC wild-card games would be played.

“Then, the rest of the playoffs would unfold, but without the bye week between conference championships and the Super Bowl.

“This would ensure that all teams play 17 games. It would give all AFC playoff teams (except the Bills and Bengals) a week off. It would give the NFC wild-card winners a week off. And the NFC No. 1 seed would go three weeks between games.”

Ben Rolfe of Pro Football Network suggested another option: a standalone game between the Bills and Bengals.

“The only feasible way for the NFL to have this game played would be to have a Week 19 where just the Bills and Bengals play, pushing the Wild Card Weekend back a week, and with it, pushing back the NFL playoffs up to Conference Championship week,” he wrote. “That would mean the Bills could still play for the one seed, while if the Bengals lose to the Ravens this week, they would still be trying to clinch the AFC North. If the Chiefs lose in Week 18, the Bengals-Bills game could be for a first-round bye.”

The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport discussed that option Wednesday morning.

One other idea being shared by many people is skipping the Bills-Bengals game and having the AFC Championship Game at a neutral site to avoid any controversy.

The last week of the NFL season always has a number of crazy playoff scenarios, but this is a whole new level.