I am not clear about the week 18 scenario.
So if the league moves it to Week 18, does the following happen?
1) Playoffs are pushed back a week.
2) Playoff byes are eliminated
3) One team added to the playoff fields to compensate for loss of bye. In both conferences.
I could be wrong about this, and I often am, but as of this week the Ravens are on the outside looking in. They would be the team to benefit from playoff field expansion in the AFC.
The Steelers, as it stands right now would be the team that loses a playoff bye, as would the Saints. Got to keep to even between the conferences. The Steelers have already lost their regular season bye due to no fault of their own.
It seems like the main beneficiary of a week 18 is the team that is responsible for housing our current predicament. But they are very publicly taking corrective measures- punishing the protocol breaker (But keeping it in house) Closing down the team facility (until Monday) they should be applauded for taking decisive actions. However a cynical man, which, btw, I clearly am, would look at these actions and say they are clearly "working the Refs" to gain an advantage for their team.
Would John Harbaugh do that?