ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Bills have never … ever had a season finale quite like this one.
When Buffalo hosts New England tomorrow afternoon at Highmark Stadium it will end what arguably was the most emotional, disruptive and uncertain week in the franchise’s 63-year history.
The minute safety Damar Hamlin collapsed to the Paycor Stadium turf last Monday night in Cincinnati, the meeting between the Bills and Bengals went from being one of the biggest games of the NFL season to one of the nation’s most important news stories of the week.
THE NATIONAL Football League, on Thursday, canceled the remainder of the meeting between two of the AFC frontrunners — of which less than 10 minutes was played — pointing out that the game impacted no team trying to make the playoffs.
But while that’s true, it does have a profound effect on the teams bidding for the conference’s No. 1 seed and the coveted first-round bye that comes with it.
Indeed, the NFL office was wrestling with that very question well into Friday.
Kansas City, 13-3, tops the AFC and concludes its regular season this afternoon at Las Vegas. Both Buffalo, 12-3, and Cincinnati, 11-4, beat the Chiefs during the regular season but, due to Hamlin’s injury, were deprived of a head-to-head opportunity to position themselves for the AFC title.
Now the league is charged with figuring out how to make a fair distinction among those three teams with Kansas City — assuming a win today — having a full 17-game schedule (14-3) and both the Bills and Bengals, hosting New England and Baltimore, respectively, playing one less.
It will be a hard decision to get right, though losses by any of those three teams this weekend would simplify the process.
MEANWHILE, Hamlin’s incredible improvement the previous two days has dramatically changed the view of tomorrow’s game for Buffalo.
“It’s going to be a celebration of life and an ongoing life,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said during a Friday morning press conference. “This is not only a celebration of Buffalo, but the whole country and I’m sure people internationally who have watched this situation.
“I think it’s going to be a great scene if you’ve got a ticket to come here and just be a part of this atmosphere. It’s going to be unique and I’m excited to see it.”
He added, “It will be a challenge for our team … the emotions. There are going to be tears out there and that will be more of a challenge than the Xs and Os, just being able to go through that and for our fans.
“The only thing that would be cooler would be if Damar would be out (of the hospital). I don’t know if that would happen, but we’re excited for Sunday.”
BEANE admitted much of the focus of the team has been on the mental and emotional health of the coaches, players and staff.
“You can’t unsee what you saw,” he said of those on the field. “The first thing you have to do is deal with those emotions and people deal with them in all sorts of different ways. When you’ve got 60-plus players and staff that’s a lot of people who are going to deal with this (differently)
“So it’s trying to reintroduce football in very small samples. I think Damar’s news yesterday (communicating and responding) … practice was really good, just seeing the guys be so fired up. It’s kind of like cramming for an exam that you probably wouldn’t wait to the last minute for … but that’s what we’re trying to do right now and these guys are pros … they’ll be ready on Sunday.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
