The NFL’s Thursday announcement regarding AFC playoff seeding in the wake of cancelling the Bills-Bengals game has apparently drawn the ire of Joe Mixon, who shared his thoughts on the news on social media.
The Bengals star running back took to Twitter to weigh in on the new set of possible scenarios his team now faces heading into a home meeting against the Ravens to close the regular season. The NFL has spent the past few days trying to figure out the best way to approach the playoff seeding for Buffalo and Cincinnati after their game was unexpectedly stopped when Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on Monday night; Hamlin has since shown signs of improvement in his ongoing recovery.
“So we not following the rules no more,” a curious Mixon tweeted Thursday night, along with screenshots of the NFL’s game operations manual and a breakdown of the competitive policy for cancelled games.
As a result of the cancelation, the Bengals (11–4) will enter Week 18 officially recognized as the AFC North champions, though the decision to not resume the game along with the proposed resolution could end up costing the club in more ways than one.
Although Mixon didn’t specify exactly what he took issue with, his choice of screenshots suggests it could be due to multiple reasons.
One of which could be the fact that the Bengals will no longer have a chance to secure the AFC’s No. 1 seed, clearing the path for either the Bills (12–3) or Chiefs (13–3) to clinch that spot this weekend. Additionally, Cincinnati, despite being a division winner, could lose out on the opportunity to host a playoff game with a loss to Baltimore (10–6) on Sunday.
Should the Ravens beat the Bengals and the teams face off again in the wild-card round, the site of the contest reportedly could be determined by a coin toss. Such a scenario, as Mixon clearly pointed out, goes against the rule book which states the following outcome in the event of a cancelled game:
“If a game is cancelled, a team’s standing in its division or in its conference (e.g., qualification as a Wild Card in the playoffs or position in playoff seeding) shall be determined on the basis of its final record. When necessary, playoff tiebreakers shall be calculated according to per game average for all teams.”
Does Mixon have a point? Some may argue that he does, but at this stage, the NFL still appears to be figuring things out in the midst of an emotional and unprecedented week.
