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Thursday, Jan 4, 11:19 a.m. update: Adam Schefter reports that the Bengals-Bills game doesn’t look like it will be rescheduled. They appear to have many ideas as to how to make that fair, including playing games at a neutral site, giving the No. 1 seed a choice of a bye OR home field advantage, and likely even more.
Noteworthy: @AdamSchefter just said on @espn that he expects a decision on Bills-Bengals before the Saturday games kick off (Chiefs-Raiders, Titans-Jaguars). He added he does not expect Bills-Bengals to resume, meaning win percentage determines seeding. (1/2)
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) January 5, 2023
Wednesday, Jan 3, 2:04 p.m. update: The NFL is in discussions about how to handle the Bills-Bengals game moving forward. They will have a decision in the “coming days.” Their decision will have an impact on playoff seeding in the AFC.
On a conference call this afternoon, NFL executive Jeff Miller says conversations regarding the status of the Bills-Bengals game are ongoing and they're likely to have an announcement in the coming days regarding when and whether that game will be played.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) January 4, 2023
Tuesday, Jan 3, 1:39 p.m. update: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent an official memo to teams about the announcement of the game not resuming this week, the Week 18 schedule currently remaining the same and some mental health resources for teams.
Tuesday, Jan 3, 1:20 p.m. update: The NFL announced on Tuesday that the Bills-Bengals game will not be resumed this week. The league has not made a decision regarding the eventual resumption of the game at a later date. The league has not made any changes yet to the Week 18 regular season schedule.
1:48 a.m. update: The Bill announced that Hamlin “suffered a cardiac arrest” and his “heartbeat was restored on the field.” As of late Monday night, he is currently sedated and in critical condition.
10:05 p.m. update: The game has now been officially postponed. The NFL initially tried to restart the game after Damar Hamlin was taken off the field, but the two teams pushed back. It took an hour for the formal decision to come down, but this was the correct decision. A makeup date has not been decided. The league announced that Damar Hamlin is at a local hospital and is in critical condition. We all send prayers to Mr. Hamlin, his family, friends, and teammates.
Update: This game is being called even if it’s not official yet. Sideline equipment for each team is being taken away at the moment, per multiple reports. We just haven’t had an official announcement yet.
Update: The most current update we have is that Bengals head coach went to the Bills locker room to discuss the situation and Joe Buck said on the broadcast that “If there is any postponement, that will come from New York, from Commissioner Goodell after talking to these two teams.”
The Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals Monday Night Football game has been “temporarily suspended until further notification” after Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. Paramedics administered CPR to Hamlin on the field and then took him to a local trauma center. His status is unknown at this time.
Understandably the players were in extreme distress on the field and continuing the game without positive news of Hamlin’s healthy would be extremely difficult for the coaches and players.
Per John Parry, the NFL office in New York has given both teams the time to go back into their locker rooms and re-group. Not clear whether the game will resume, but certainly not a decision that should be made on the field.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 3, 2023
There is still a chance they continue the game later tonight, but I would expect that would come only with positive reports of Hamlin’s health. For now, the game is suspended and a restart time is uncertain.