Dolphins Week 18 Game On As Scheduled
While the focus remains (and should remain) on the condition of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, the NFL released a statement addressing the schedule Tuesday afternoon.
The NFL announced that the Week 18 games were proceeding as scheduled at this time, that the Buffalo-Cincinnati game would not be resumed this week and that no decision had been made "regarding the possible resumption of the game at a later date."
The Dolphins will face the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium in their season finale at 1 p.m. ET.
As things stand right now, Buffalo will play at the same time against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium, with the Dolphins needing a Buffalo victory to make the playoffs — provided they defeat the Jets.
What the NFL ultimately decides to do with the remainder of the Buffalo-Cincinnati game, which appropriately was suspended in the first quarter Monday night after Hamlin was taken off the field by ambulance after having cardiac arrest, could have an impact on the Dolphins' first-round opponent if they make the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season.
The Dolphins will be the No. 7 seed if they do make the playoffs and will play on the road against the No. 2 seed in the first round.
The Bills entered the game at Cincinnati on Monday night with a path to the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs with victories in their final two games, but with Kansas City actually having a half-game lead after their Sunday victory against Denver.
The NFL would seem to have two options with the Buffalo-Cincinnati game: cancel the game or push the playoffs back one week and have the Bills and Bengals play a stand-alone game on the weekend of Jan. 15-16.
If the game is canceled, Kansas City would clinch the No. 1 seed with a victory against the Las Vegas Raiders because it would give the Chiefs a 14-3 record and the best the Bills could do is 13-3.
Cincinnati (11-4) is scheduled to play at home against Baltimore in Week 18 and a victory would clinch the AFC North title for the Bengals. But a loss would put the Ravens only a half-game back and would give them the tiebreaker advantage by virtue of what would be a season sweep.
So there could be variables to consider for the NFL when it comes to deciding on what to do with the Buffalo-Cincinnati game, but there will be time to make that decision.
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DOLPHINS SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR HAMLIN
The Dolphins organization and some of their players took to Twitter to express their support and best wishes for Hamlin, who remained in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital.
This was the statement from the organization:
And here were some tweets from players:
Long-snapper Blake Ferguson, whose brother Reid plays the same position for the Bills, encouraged Dolphins fans to support Hamlin's charitable foundation Chasing M's for its toy drive.
A GoFundMe page for the foundation that began with a goal of $25,000 had reached more than $4 million in donations by Tuesday afternoon.
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