With the Bills-Bengals game officially canceled and declared a no contest, the NFL is currently in the midst of figuring out how to proceed with the NFL playoffs. Buffalo and Cincinnati are both major players in the playoff picture, and the NFL’s latest proposal could actually benefit the Ravens.
Baltimore Ravens Could Benefit From NFL Playoff Proposal
The Proposal As It Affects the Ravens
Before we discuss the actual proposal, let’s start with a disclaimer: the NFL is in an impossible spot here. Damar Hamlin’s near-fatal cardiac arrest was a tragedy, and the most important thing is his long-term health. With the game being (correctly) canceled, it’s impossible for the league to create a situation that equally benefits every single team in the playoff picture. No matter what, somebody was going to receive the short end of the stick.
Ok, with that out of the way, the NFL’s latest proposal states in no uncertain terms that the Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC North. No matter what happens in Week 18, the Ravens will not be able to claim the third seed in the playoff picture. They can, however, host a playoff game if they beat the Bengals in the regular season finale. If the Ravens and Chargers both win in Week 18, Baltimore and Cincinnati will face each other in the first round of the playoffs.
Even though the Bengals will have the higher win percentage, the Ravens will have beaten the Bengals twice in the regular season, which under normal circumstances, would serve as the tiebreaker for the AFC North crown. The NFL apparently feels that it wouldn’t be fair to the Ravens to have to travel for a game they might have hosted in normal circumstances, so a coin flip would decide who hosted the first week of the NFL playoffs.
Now, it’s important to note that none of this is official yet. The league proposed these changes, but it must still pass a vote from the owners before it becomes official. That vote happens later on Friday.
How This Benefits Baltimore
This is probably the best-case scenario for the Ravens. Baltimore enters Week 18 facing a 1.5-game deficit in the division and, if the NFL were to strictly follow their own rules, the Ravens would be unable to win the division. As pointed out by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, page A78 of the “Emergencies and Unfair Acts” category states that “If a game is canceled, 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.”
If this standard were strictly followed, the Ravens would be forced to travel for their Wild Card matchup, regardless of what happened in Week 18. Needless to say, it’s better to play games at home than on the road, especially in the playoffs. While the Ravens would still need to win Week 18 and the ensuing coin toss, this proposal opens a door to the possibility of hosting a playoff game.
