How the Steelers-Bills weather delay affects the AFC playoffs
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz reacts to the Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo wild card game being moved to Monday due to weather and discusses how it impacts next weekend’s schedule.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
JASON FITZ: In a somewhat surprising move, the NFL has announced that the playoff match-up between the Steelers and Bills in Buffalo scheduled for Sunday has been postponed to Monday due to blizzard-like conditions and winds that are projected to hit as many as 60 miles per hour. Now, social media is already asking why has that game been moved but the Chiefs Dolphins game, projected to be possibly the coldest game of all time on Saturday night, has not been moved.
And this comes down to health and safety, but not of the players and coaches, frankly, health and safety of the situation. That's what the league is worried about. And let's be clear. That creates complications for the NFL as well. By moving this game to Monday, we have to ask what it means for the next round of the playoffs. Remember, the playoffs are reseeded. So the lowest remaining seed will take on the highest seed in the next round. That means should the Steelers win this game on Monday, they would take on the Baltimore Ravens.
Well, that game certainly can't happen on Saturday, the next time that NFL playoff games would be taking place. So it, instead, would have to be Sunday. But conversely, if the Bills win, it's the same situation. Depending on how the rest of the games play out, the Bills wouldn't be forced to play on Saturday. They would likely be forced to play then on Sunday. This creates a scheduling problem for the league, simply because they can't know where to go with any of it until they know who has won the game.
It impacts absolutely everybody, which is why the league is hesitant as always to move these. They didn't move this game because they wanted to. They didn't move this game because it's better or worse for TV or money. They moved this game because due to health and safety for the people attending it, they absolutely had to.
[AUDIO LOGO]