NFL announces Bills-Bengals game won't be resumed

The NFL said Thursday it will not resume the Bills-Bengals game that was suspended Monday night after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field.

The league said some of the factors in coming to its decision included that "not playing the Buffalo-Cincinnati game to its conclusion will have no effect on which clubs qualify for the post-season. No club would qualify for the post-season and no club will be eliminated based on the outcome of this game."

Also, the NFL said playing the game between the Bills and Bengals would have required postponing the start of the playoffs by a week, and affecting all 14 teams that qualified for the post-season.

The NFL said its decision creates "potential competitive inequities in certain playoff scenarios." The league said clubs on Friday, in a special league meeting, would consider a resolution recommended by the commissioner and approved today by the competition committee.

The Bills-Bengals game had major playoff implications for the AFC. Buffalo (12-3) entered Monday night needing a win to maintain the AFC's No. 1 seed. Kansas City (13-3) now holds that spot. The Bengals (11-4) had a chance to earn that top seed with two more wins and a loss by Kansas City.

The scenarios approved by the competition committee include a potential neutral site for the AFC championship game. The league is considering several sites, including indoor and outdoor stadiums.

The resolution being presented to clubs for a vote on Friday follows:

The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the No. 1 seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season.