Tuesday it was when. Wednesday it was if. And tonight, it appears to simply be no.
That all refers to the resumption of the Buffalo Bills / Cincinnati Bengals game that was stopped Monday night in the first quarter following the on-field cardiac arrest by Bills Safety Damar Hamlin.
Numerous reports have come out from NBC, ProFootballTalk reporter Mike Florio, and AP reporter Rob Maaddi saying that the NFL will announce on Friday that the Bills-Bengals game is off.
EDIT: The NFL itself confirmed the reports at approximately 9:30 p.m. on its Twitter account.
Several trial balloons had been floated throughout the day with potential compromises on how best to deal with what not playing the game would mean to the standings, given that the Bills and Bengals will finish the season with only 16 games each, while every other team will finish with 17.
One possible scenario, should the Bills fall half a game shy of the AFC’s best record is to allow Kansas City (who the Bills beat) to choose either home field advantage throughout the playoffs or a bye week. Buffalo would be given whichever option KC didn’t choose. Another possibility floated is to play the AFC Championship Game at a neutral site.
In what will now be their final regular season games, the Bills will host the New England Patriots, while the Bengals are home to the Baltimore Ravens. Both games are at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
