How An Adjusted Schedule Could Impact the Dolphins

There is some unfinished business for the NFL when it comes to finalizing the 2022 regular season schedule and playoff format, though there was a measure of clarity that surfaced Thursday.

The league has decided that the game between the Buffalo Bills against the Cincinnati Bengals, which was stopped in the first quarter Monday after Bills safety Damar Hamlin had cardiac arrest on the field, will not be completed, according to AP NFL writer Rob Maadi.

That means that Buffalo and Cincinnati each will end the regular season with 16 games instead of the usual 17 and will have ramifications when it comes to the AFC playoff seedings.

Buffalo (12-3) entered Week 17 tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for first place in the AFC standings but holding the No. 1 seed because of their head-to-head victory.

If the Bills end up playing 16 games, it means that Kansas City would clinch the No. 1 seed with a victory against the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday because it would give the Chiefs a 14-3 record that Buffalo couldn't match.

That would have two ramifications for the Miami Dolphins.

First, it would mean that Buffalo no longer would have a shot at the top seed and perhaps might be more inclined to rest some players for its game against the New England Patriots on Sunday, a game the Dolphins need to have the Bills win to make the playoffs in a seven-team scenario.

Second, it would mean the Dolphins would play at Buffalo in the first round of the playoffs if they defeat the Jets and the Bills defeat the Patriots.

Officially canceling the BUF-CIN also would automatically give the Bengals the AFC North title, eliminating the Baltimore Ravens' chance to taking the division crown by defeating the Bengals in Week 18 and having the Bengals lose against Buffalo, which would have left both teams with an 11-6 record.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS AND THE DOLPHINS

If the BUF-CIN indeed is eliminated, a potential playoff scenario has emerged, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, where the No. 1 seed would have the choice of having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs OR having the first-round bye that normally comes with.

The second seed then would have the option not selected by the No. 1 seed.

Another possibility that's been suggested, by Pro Football Talk, involved adding an eighth playoff team in each conference.

The logic behind it is that would eliminate the first-round bye for the top seed and would mitigate the effects of canceling the BUF-CIN game.

Even under this scenario, the Dolphins still would have to beat the Jets to make the playoffs, but their potential first-round opponents now would include the Chiefs and Bengals along with the Bills.

GOOD DOLPHINS MEMORY OF EIGHT-TEAM PLAYOFFS

Moving to eight playoff teams in each conference would not be unprecedented for the NFL because it happened 40 years ago — and it worked out really well for the Dolphins.

That happened in the 1982 strike-shortened season when the Dolphins finished the abbreviated schedule with a 7-2 record that was good for the No. 2 seed in the AFC.

The Dolphins defeated New England, 28-13 in the first round; San Diego 34-13 in the divisional round; and then the New York Jets, 14-0, in the AFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl XVII against Washington.