Shortly after the Bengals dispatched the Bills 27-10 in the AFC divisional playoffs last weekend, CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson asked quarterback Joe Burrow how much motivation the Bengals drew from the fact the NFL had been selling tickets to a possible neutral-site AFC Championship Game between the Bills and the Chiefs.
Burrow replied with a smirk, "Better send those refunds."
He had taken the league's sales approach (and implicit suggestion Buffalo would beat Cincinnati in the divisional round) as a slight, but it could become standard practice in future years. After the cancellation of the Jan. 2 Bills-Bengals game, following safety Damar Hamlin's on-field cardiac arrest, meant the Bills would finish a half-game behind the Chiefs in the race for home-field advantage in the AFC, the league's owners voted a possible Buffalo-Kansas City conference title game would be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.