Buffalo Safety-Damar Hamlin is awake and **Bills at Bengals** Game has been Canceled (2 Viewers)

[MAC_32]

Good luck to whoever decides when we move on/forward from this and start focusing on football/fantasy football. How do we do it?

It will happen quickly. Can pretty much guarantee it.
People are resilient. You have to be. Lot of horrific stuff happening every day. We all move on because we HAVE to

Yep. The game will go on. How? We'll probably find out in the next 8-24 hours. And when it does the Bills will begin their path towards the Lombardi. Isn't any way this particular team is falling short given these circumstances.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

The 5 minutes to warm up thing may just be the SOP the refs went with after a "normal" extended injury or other delay in a game occurs. This was not a normal injury or delay.

good point. but why were they left with no directive from the NFL in the first place?

all they had to do was tell the refs the game was suspended until we tell you otherwise.

My guess is simple inertia. I strongly doubt anyone in authority at the NFL issued a “let’s play on!” Instruction. Probably everybody was just watching in shock.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was living in New York and had a 9 a.m. meeting in Midtown Manhattan (for those unfamiliar with NYC geography, that's nowhere near the World Trade Center). I arrived a few minutes late because the subway was running slowly (for reasons that would later become obvious). As I got off the subway, I heard snatches of news from the radios on the breakfast trucks outside the building, and then got more details via conversations on the elevator. I went up to the office where my meeting was, and as I sat waiting for the person I was meeting with, the receptionist was filling me in on exactly what happened. Then I got a call from a friend living abroad who was checking in to make sure I was OK.

My point is this: It took about 45 minutes before the receptionist and I both realized that there was no effing way my meeting was going to happen. In retrospect, that seems blindingly obvious. But in the moment, it was such a completely unprecedented situation that we didn't appreciate the full impact of what was going on.

I think that's something like what happened last night. The normal "warm-up" period after a major injury is zero minutes. The guy gets carted off the field and play resumes. It was clear by the time the ambulance came out that this wasn't a normal situation, so someone (I'm guessing the game officials) initially said they should take a few additional minutes. It very quickly became apparent that wasn't a viable solution, which I think was when Taylor and McDermott met on the field and agreed their players were in no condition to continue.

 

[Steve Tasker]

I would assume they placed Hamliln on a Hypothermia protocol. Probably 48-72 hours from last night before any significant update.

Was listening to local sports talk on the radio this morning, and they had a doctor say the same thing - that he's likely undergoing some sort of hypothermia protocol.

 

[sho nuff]

Just read on the league site that "The NFL will make a decision on the game at an appropriate time"
imop they're waiting on updates from the hospital

Probably also conference calls among the league owners and coaches and player reps.

 

[BobbyLayne]

I know it's been mentioned in passing but great job by Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor taking the reins last night. WRT to the five minute warmup SNAFU, I choose to believe NFL EVP Troy Vincent (former player) that it was not a New York directive. May have been the initial consensus, in the moment, of the officials chatting with each other how to proceed.

IDK if McDermott initiated or if Taylor came over on his own, but they handled a difficult situation well. Let's get the players off the field and get on the phone with New York, it's their call but no reason for everyone to stand around while that decision is being made.

The players (and coaches, staff, anyone on the sidelines) were traumatised by what had just occurred. But someone needed to say "Here's what we're going to do." Much respect to the coaches for recognising that, and the officiating crew wisely acquiesced.

No script for any of that. Thought they handled it as best they could all things considered.

 

[JIslander]

Prayers out to this kid and family --

I'm in line with them just moving forward w/o trying to make count or finish this game--

From a fantasy perspective, fortunate in our league top 3 is already set (winner won by 0.84 points!)

My third place monies ($100) will be sent to Hamlin's Foundation ---

 

[Pipes]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

Eh, I think they need to play it, just wait until after the young man's health is assured (hoping for the best of course).

How though? Logistically it's damn near impossible.

 

[Insein]

I’ll walk back a bit of my initial anger at the NFL if the reports are true that there was never any 5 minutes and then play resumes order. That’s good. And shame on whoever put that out there if that wasn’t true.

The announcers of the game got it from somewhere. They didn’t make it up.

They very well could have made it up.

The radio and Spanish broadcasters said the same. They obviously did not make it up.

I wasnt saying the announcers made it up. The network certainly could have. Not saying they did but they definitely could have.

 

[hagmania]

A friend of mine runs a sawmill in Northern Minnesota. A guy was killed on the job. The business shut down for the day. The next day it was up and running again.

Of course it seems callous. But that's the way things work.

It's really not callous. How many days shutting down is correct? Also if those workers are hourly (or commission in some industries) how does not giving people living paycheck to paycheck an opportunity to work help them?

Yeah, when tragedy strikes you can't just shut it all down, even if you want to.

Well, you can, actually.

Everything that happened before this point is a sunk cost, and everything after an opportunity cost. Calculate accordingly.

 

[Rubi]

Prayers out to this kid and family --

I'm in line with them just moving forward w/o trying to make count or finish this game--

From a fantasy perspective, fortunate in our league top 3 is already set (winner won by 0.84 points!)

My third place monies ($100) will be sent to Hamlin's Foundation ---

Awesome,what a great idea

 

[Insein]

It may be well done past time that we reconsider how this game is played. Player safety is critical and the NFL needs to step up and see what changes are needed.

You don't even know what caused it yet.

 

[-OZ-]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

Eh, I think they need to play it, just wait until after the young man's health is assured (hoping for the best of course).

How though? Logistically it's damn near impossible.

Right. The idea of playing a tough game on Wednesday before another tough game for the bengals seems worse than canceling.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

Eh, I think they need to play it, just wait until after the young man's health is assured (hoping for the best of course).

How though? Logistically it's damn near impossible.

Right. The idea of playing a tough game on Wednesday before another tough game for the bengals seems worse than canceling.

The more I think about it, the more I think that every solution that involves cancelling this game is better than every solution that involves making it up. Any make up game significantly harms either Buffalo or Cincinnati or both because they'd have to play multiple games on short weeks heading into a WC game. It also indirectly skews the playoff race since CIN-BAL and BUF-NE are highly meaningful for several teams.

I know cancellation is unprecdented in modern times at least, but that seems to be the more parsimonious, light-touch way of dealing with a bad situation.

 

[jm192]

It may be well done past time that we reconsider how this game is played. Player safety is critical and the NFL needs to step up and see what changes are needed.

There are lots of things we can point to and question player safety.

This aint it. This was a freak occurence. There have been thousands, 10's of thousands of shoulders lowered into a guy's chest.
I think if we're saying you can't lower your shoulder to break a tackle/fight for more yards in the name of safety--You almost have to cancel football all together.

 

[Godsbrother]

It may be well done past time that we reconsider how this game is played. Player safety is critical and the NFL needs to step up and see what changes are needed.

There are lots of things we can point to and question player safety.

This aint it. This was a freak occurence. There have been thousands, 10's of thousands of shoulders lowered into a guy's chest.
I think if we're saying you can't lower your shoulder to break a tackle/fight for more yards in the name of safety--You almost have to cancel football all together.

I think in the offseason maybe they need to look at some kind of heart protection like little leaguers use.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

Eh, I think they need to play it, just wait until after the young man's health is assured (hoping for the best of course).

How though? Logistically it's damn near impossible.

Right. The idea of playing a tough game on Wednesday before another tough game for the bengals seems worse than canceling.

The more I think about it, the more I think that every solution that involves cancelling this game is better than every solution that involves making it up. Any make up game significantly harms either Buffalo or Cincinnati or both because they'd have to play multiple games on short weeks heading into a WC game. It also indirectly skews the playoff race since CIN-BAL and BUF-NE are highly meaningful for several teams.

I know cancellation is unprecdented in modern times at least, but that seems to be the more parsimonious, light-touch way of dealing with a bad situation.

The "good news" is that after the last couple years, we all have lots of experience dealing with unprecedented situations and having to make once-unthinkable decisions.

But overall I think you have the right perspective. This is a totally unique situation, and any solution is going to be unprecedented, disruptive and unfair to multiple stakeholders. You have to bake that in to your calculations and try to come up with the solution that's the least disruptive/unfair

 

[Doug B]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

If a neutral site for these two teams makes sense at some point ... they could play it in Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, OH. That's roughly equidistant between the two cities.

 

[kinghill]

Good luck to whoever decides when we move on/forward from this and start focusing on football/fantasy football. How do we do it?

This is a great question
No right answer because some folks will feel like nothing can be done or moved forward.
I do think leagues have 2 real choices for FF this week

1. Week 18 Replay for the Championship, this would be the reason we use the last week of the NFL as basically a safety net or not the week we crown a winner for the season.

2. Just take the prize money for 1st and 2nd and split it, if it was winner take all, split it between the Final 2, nobody else in the league should be put off by this.

-You could have someone with a healthy lead but maybe the team trailing had guys like Higgins and Diggs last night or Josh Allen/Joe Burrow(that was me) and I can see some managers not liking the outcome from last night.
-I think either of the 2 scenarios above should likely be put to a league vote
-In some of my leagues, the Commish is competing in the Championship, that's a little more tricky

If anything just take the stats for bengals and bills, add them in. There’s no reason to mulligan the whole week to get more players in irrelevant games.

Imagine losing the FF championship by a couple points when you have Allen, Mixon, and Boyd, and your opponent had no one left.

 

[Doug B]

It may be well done past time that we reconsider how this game is played. Player safety is critical and the NFL needs to step up and see what changes are needed.

Ripe for a different thread, but: I have wondered if the NFL could morph (gradually? quickly?) into a flag-ish football league. Maybe not actual flags, but something like a ballcarrier doesn't have to actually be stopped to be down. Don't have the details worked out, just musing.

 

[-OZ-]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

If a neutral site for these two teams makes sense at some point ... they could play it in Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, OH. That's roughly equidistant between the two cities.

Play in Detroit! That’s about as neutral as it gets for those teams.

 

[Max Power]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

 

[BassNBrew]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

And if he's still critical on Sunday do they cancel that game too?

 

[IvanKaramazov]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

And if he's still critical on Sunday do they cancel that game too?

Of course not. This shouldn't even be up for discussion.

 

[rockaction]

And if he's still critical on Sunday do they cancel that game too?

This is what I've been thinking. I began to think, "Forget this Monday game, how are they going to play the games Sunday given what we know about the nature of the injury and both teams' reaction?"

This is going to last into the week and there will be no good solution to it all.

Sometimes life is imperfect and we're just human. There likely will be no fair or neat solution to all of this.

 

[Max Power]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

And if he's still critical on Sunday do they cancel that game too?

That's a tough call. I'd have to say no though. The business side will outweigh the empathy side.

 

[rockaction]

Of course not. This shouldn't even be up for discussion.

If you use the logic that led us to postponement, then that logic applies to Sunday also.

 

[Doug B]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

Hard to gauge how much the league, team, and players want to eventually get this game in the books. But if very soon it becomes a priority to complete the game:

1) Bills at Bengals play Thursday, January 5th, 1:00 p.m. EDT
2) Ravens at Bengals and Patriots at Bills move to Tuesday, January 10th, 7:30 p.m. EDT
3) NFL playoffs delayed one week -- instead of starting the weekend of January 14-15, they start January 22-23. If possible and as necessary, the Ravens, Patriots, Bengals and Bills would play on the Sunday the 23rd, either a 4:25 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. EDT start.
4) Sunday, February 5 is no longer an open date on the NFL calendar -- the conference championship games are played that day.
5) Super Bowl Sunday continues as scheduled on Sunday, February 12th.

 

[Doug B]

Hard to gauge how much the league, team, and players wants to eventually get this game in the books. But if very soon it becomes a priority to complete the game:

1) Bills at Bengals plays Thursday, January 5th, 1:00 p.m. EDT
2) Ravens at Bengals and Patriots at Bills move to Tuesday, January 10th, 7:30 p.m. EDT

Looking at this some more, Bills at Bengals could even be moved back to Friday the 6th and the following week's games to Wednesday the 11th. With the rest going as written above.

 

[efactor]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

Hard to gauge how much the league, team, and players wants to eventually get this game in the books. But if very soon it becomes a priority to complete the game:

1) Bills at Bengals plays Thursday, January 5th, 1:00 p.m. EDT
2) Ravens at Bengals and Patriots at Bills move to Tuesday, January 10th, 7:30 p.m. EDT
3) NFL playoffs delayed one week -- instead of starting the weekend of January 14-15, they start January 22-23. If possible and as necessary, the Ravens, Patriots, Bengals and Bills would play on the Sunday the 23rd, either a 4:25 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. EDT start.
4) Sunday, February 5 is no longer an open date on the NFL calendar -- the conference championship games are played that day.
5) Super Bowl Sunday continues as scheduled on Sunday, February 12th.

Agree

No need for two weeks between NFC/AFC championship games and super bowl.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

Hard to gauge how much the league, team, and players wants to eventually get this game in the books. But if very soon it becomes a priority to complete the game:

1) Bills at Bengals plays Thursday, January 5th, 1:00 p.m. EDT
2) Ravens at Bengals and Patriots at Bills move to Tuesday, January 10th, 7:30 p.m. EDT
3) NFL playoffs delayed one week -- instead of starting the weekend of January 14-15, they start January 22-23. If possible and as necessary, the Ravens, Patriots, Bengals and Bills would play on the Sunday the 23rd, either a 4:25 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. EDT start.
4) Sunday, February 5 is no longer an open date on the NFL calendar -- the conference championship games are played that day.
5) Super Bowl Sunday continues as scheduled on Sunday, February 12th.

I have no idea what they should do, but seeing that timeline laid out, it feels like the league won't want to have one canceled game result in that level of disruption. It seems more likely that they try to "localize" the problem so that they can get back on schedule, even if that ends up being unfair to Buffalo, Cinci and a few other AFC teams.

Again, not discussing any of this from a moral viewpoint, just what I think the league is likely to do.

 

[Max Power]

Of course not. This shouldn't even be up for discussion.

If you use the logic that led us to postponement, then that logic applies to Sunday also.

This was one of the arguments made by ESPN commentators that players aren't in the right mindset when a teammate's life hangs in the balance. It really is a tough situation all around.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Of course not. This shouldn't even be up for discussion.

If you use the logic that led us to postponement, then that logic applies to Sunday also.

I think there's a material difference between pushing a pause button when everyone is standing there shell-shocked vs. a week later when folks have had a chance to compose themselves. Lots and lots of NFL games have been played in the wake of some tragedy or another. This Sunday's games will fall into that category. Sorry if that comes across as heartless, but there's a long precedent for how to handle this type of thing. (Next week's games, not last night's game -- that's a thorny issue, illustrating why the league is right to want games to play on unless absolutely necessary).

 

[rockaction]

This was one of the arguments made by ESPN commentators that players aren't in the right mindset when a teammate's life hangs in the balance. It really is a tough situation all around.

It's impossible to come away from this with any sort of definite equitability. It's also impossible to come away from this without a new line having been drawn about injuries.

 

[zamboni]

No need for two weeks between NFC/AFC championship games and super bowl.

It’s happened before with only 1 week between the games (2000-2003 and I believe a few other years). Not sure why they couldn’t adjust again this year.

 

[knowledge dropper]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

If a neutral site for these two teams makes sense at some point ... they could play it in Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, OH. That's roughly equidistant between the two cities.

Play in Detroit! That’s about as neutral as it gets for those teams.

That was my thought. Indoors and neutral.

 

[BassNBrew]

If the reporting around here is accurate and we won't see a meaningful update on Hamlin for at least another 24 hours, I have to agree that the NFL can not reschedule this game while Hamlin's condition is still critical. This game will be cancelled.

Hard to gauge how much the league, team, and players want to eventually get this game in the books. But if very soon it becomes a priority to complete the game:

1) Bills at Bengals play Thursday, January 5th, 1:00 p.m. EDT
2) Ravens at Bengals and Patriots at Bills move to Tuesday, January 10th, 7:30 p.m. EDT
3) NFL playoffs delayed one week -- instead of starting the weekend of January 14-15, they start January 22-23. If possible and as necessary, the Ravens, Patriots, Bengals and Bills would play on the Sunday the 23rd, either a 4:25 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. EDT start.
4) Sunday, February 5 is no longer an open date on the NFL calendar -- the conference championship games are played that day.
5) Super Bowl Sunday continues as scheduled on Sunday, February 12th.

Not going to say I agreed with the details but that's not important, I think your general thesis is correct. With playoffs game times and location already in flex it's pretty simple to move those dates and times.

 

[rockaction]

I think there's a material difference between pushing a pause button when everyone is standing there shell-shocked vs. a week later when folks have had a chance to compose themselves. Lots and lots of NFL games have been played in the wake of some tragedy or another. This Sunday's games will fall into that category. Sorry if that comes across as heartless, but there's a long precedent for how to handle this type of thing. (Next week's games, not last night's game -- that's a thorny issue, illustrating why the league is right to want games to play on unless absolutely necessary).

I think there's a material difference, too. But we've seen a new line drawn about injuries and you know how I feel about slippery slopes. There aren't any. I think we've seen a new line drawn about when players will play and when they aren't going to.

I'm not bemoaning that they didn't play. I'm just saying that not recognizing the future implications because of its logic is myopic. We're going to be asked to draw lines and put boxes around concepts like grief and the like if we are to move forward with certainty about the product. That's above my pay grade to comment about the desirability of that, but that's really what you're asking them to do.

 

[efactor]

No need for two weeks between NFC/AFC championship games and super bowl.

It’s happened before with only 1 week between the games (2000-2003 and I believe a few other years). Not sure why they couldn’t adjust again this year.

Other than giving the NFL a hype week for the big game, no real reason. You play the whole season, with one exception, weekly. Just seems a better solution than cancelling a pivotal game that will determine playoff seeding

I liked it when they didn't have the extra week between the games.

 

[BassNBrew]

Don’t play this game. No makeup and if Bengals and Bills meet in playoffs then a neutral site could be a resolution.

If a neutral site for these two teams makes sense at some point ... they could play it in Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, OH. That's roughly equidistant between the two cities.

Play in Detroit! That’s about as neutral as it gets for those teams.

That was my thought. Indoors and neutral.

Hey Bills....I know it's a difficult situation but we decided it's in your best interest to strip your HOA and make you travel to Detroit. Also Bills fans, thanks for you support...you're welcome to commute to Detroit to watch the game.

 

[Godsbrother]

Good luck to whoever decides when we move on/forward from this and start focusing on football/fantasy football. How do we do it?

This is a great question
No right answer because some folks will feel like nothing can be done or moved forward.
I do think leagues have 2 real choices for FF this week

1. Week 18 Replay for the Championship, this would be the reason we use the last week of the NFL as basically a safety net or not the week we crown a winner for the season.

2. Just take the prize money for 1st and 2nd and split it, if it was winner take all, split it between the Final 2, nobody else in the league should be put off by this.

-You could have someone with a healthy lead but maybe the team trailing had guys like Higgins and Diggs last night or Josh Allen/Joe Burrow(that was me) and I can see some managers not liking the outcome from last night.
-I think either of the 2 scenarios above should likely be put to a league vote
-In some of my leagues, the Commish is competing in the Championship, that's a little more tricky

If anything just take the stats for bengals and bills, add them in. There’s no reason to mulligan the whole week to get more players in irrelevant games.

Imagine losing the FF championship by a couple points when you have Allen, Mixon, and Boyd, and your opponent had no one left.

I am down 9 with Allen, Mixon and Chase. My opponent has Higgins.

I'm the commish and will discuss the situation with my opponent but there is no way the Super Bowl is going to be decided by a cancelled game. We will either split the pot and declare no SB champ this year or move to Week 18. Any other means of handling it is absurd to me.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

In the interest of saying something positive in an awful situation, I gotta say that David Chao (@ProFootballDoc on Twitter) has been an invaluable resource over the past 14 hours. Really good job of explaining what's going on, both medically and in terms of what the on-field staff is doing

 

[Doug B]

It's also impossible to come away from this without a new line having been drawn about injuries.

How do you mean? Are you thinking that, for instance, future Darryl Stingley, Mike Utley, and Dennis Byrd incidents will become de rigeur game cancellations?

 

[Capella]

Any of you FF commissioners out there getting questions from your league about how championship game / 3rd place games will be handled?

I said no idea waiting until we learn more tomorrow

Our title game the guy starting Josh Allen was down 3 points coming in and he had 2.5. Other guy has no players left. I told them to hold off and see but if the game got cancelled I have no idea what I would do. Worry about it later.

Would hope the guy "winning" by 0.5 in that scenario would be ok with no less then declaring a draw and spliting the pot....if not conceding altogether

Not that anybody was waiting for the scintillating update to my fantasy league but the guy ahead by half a point facing Josh Allen conceded. Good dude.

 

[Max Power]

Of course not. This shouldn't even be up for discussion.

If you use the logic that led us to postponement, then that logic applies to Sunday also.

I think there's a material difference between pushing a pause button when everyone is standing there shell-shocked vs. a week later when folks have had a chance to compose themselves. Lots and lots of NFL games have been played in the wake of some tragedy or another. This Sunday's games will fall into that category. Sorry if that comes across as heartless, but there's a long precedent for how to handle this type of thing. (Next week's games, not last night's game -- that's a thorny issue, illustrating why the league is right to want games to play on unless absolutely necessary).

I understand this point of view, but its also considering a best case scenario regarding Hamlin's health. Heaven forbid Buffalo has to deal with additional tragedy from this event that can happen at any moment in the upcoming week. I just agree there is no right answer and I fully respect players who say this is only a game to keep that in perspective.

 

[rockaction]

How do you mean? Are you thinking that, for instance, future Darryl Stingley, Mike Utley, and Dennis Byrd incidents will become de rigeur game cancellations?

I'm saying that is possible. And it's de rigueur you want, and probably not the usage/context that you want. De rigueur is usually reserved for something fashionable. Think more of folkways than mores.

Appreciate ya, Doug B. I hope you take that second sentence the right way. I only tell you because it took me years to get de rigueur correct.

 

[crushedspirit]

Good luck to whoever decides when we move on/forward from this and start focusing on football/fantasy football. How do we do it?

This is a great question
No right answer because some folks will feel like nothing can be done or moved forward.
I do think leagues have 2 real choices for FF this week

1. Week 18 Replay for the Championship, this would be the reason we use the last week of the NFL as basically a safety net or not the week we crown a winner for the season.

2. Just take the prize money for 1st and 2nd and split it, if it was winner take all, split it between the Final 2, nobody else in the league should be put off by this.

-You could have someone with a healthy lead but maybe the team trailing had guys like Higgins and Diggs last night or Josh Allen/Joe Burrow(that was me) and I can see some managers not liking the outcome from last night.
-I think either of the 2 scenarios above should likely be put to a league vote
-In some of my leagues, the Commish is competing in the Championship, that's a little more tricky

If anything just take the stats for bengals and bills, add them in. There’s no reason to mulligan the whole week to get more players in irrelevant games.

Imagine losing the FF championship by a couple points when you have Allen, Mixon, and Boyd, and your opponent had no one left.

I am down 9 with Allen, Mixon and Chase. My opponent has Higgins.

I'm the commish and will discuss the situation with my opponent but there is no way the Super Bowl is going to be decided by a cancelled game. We will either split the pot and declare no SB champ this year or move to Week 18. Any other means of handling it is absurd to me.

I'm up 5 with Davis vs his Chase, standard scoring.

We will split the pot if game gets pinched.

 

[sho nuff]

In the interest of saying something positive in an awful situation, I gotta say that David Chao (@ProFootballDoc on Twitter) has been an invaluable resource over the past 14 hours. Really good job of explaining what's going on, both medically and in terms of what the on-field staff is doing

I will also say that this is where Twitter is good. Ignore foolish "commenting" on tweets...but getting good information out there to mass amounts of people quickly.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

It's also impossible to come away from this without a new line having been drawn about injuries.

How do you mean? Are you thinking that, for instance, future Darryl Stingley, Mike Utley, and Dennis Byrd incidents will become de rigeur game cancellations?

IMO the line will be drawn at situations that are genuinely life-threatening. Obviously, it's not always such a bright line -- IIRC, the Utley situation briefly looked like it might be life-threatening -- but I suspect that's how it will shake out. Cardiac arrest is just fundamentally different from broken limbs and even potential paralysis.

 

[Insein]

It may be well done past time that we reconsider how this game is played. Player safety is critical and the NFL needs to step up and see what changes are needed.

There are lots of things we can point to and question player safety.

This aint it. This was a freak occurence. There have been thousands, 10's of thousands of shoulders lowered into a guy's chest.
I think if we're saying you can't lower your shoulder to break a tackle/fight for more yards in the name of safety--You almost have to cancel football all together.

I think in the offseason maybe they need to look at some kind of heart protection like little leaguers use.

They did. They had a defibrillator readily available and used it as quick as possible. That's all they have for little league.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I think there's a material difference between pushing a pause button when everyone is standing there shell-shocked vs. a week later when folks have had a chance to compose themselves. Lots and lots of NFL games have been played in the wake of some tragedy or another. This Sunday's games will fall into that category. Sorry if that comes across as heartless, but there's a long precedent for how to handle this type of thing. (Next week's games, not last night's game -- that's a thorny issue, illustrating why the league is right to want games to play on unless absolutely necessary).

I think there's a material difference, too. But we've seen a new line drawn about injuries and you know how I feel about slippery slopes. There aren't any. I think we've seen a new line drawn about when players will play and when they aren't going to.

I'm not bemoaning that they didn't play. I'm just saying that not recognizing the future implications because of its logic is myopic. We're going to be asked to draw lines and put boxes around concepts like grief and the like in we are to move forward with certainty about the product. That's above my pay grade to comment about the desirability of that, but that's really what you're asking them to do.

I know, and you and I probably agree on much of this. I just think the bar for cancelling/postponing/suspending games should be super-high. TBH, I'm not comfortable with last night's game being postponed -- I'm going along with it because I feel like I have to defer to all the professionals who saw what happened on the field and its aftermath.