Beck Water
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Posts posted by Beck Water
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21 minutes ago, Warcodered said:
I think that's a bit much he didn't play in the game that day and was cut the following day, not sure I'd call that standing by him.
Heh. Fair point. They did stand by him initially with that "thorough investigation" team announcement, but they reversed course PDQ
I think either the investigation was total weak sauce OR McDermott wasn't fully in the loop with the details, and was genuinely horrified reading the lawsuit. I think he said "I don't think we can have this on the team. At the least, we have to separate him from the team while we review what we know and make a decision"
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Wawrow's story a bit more critical in tone:
I can't say he's unfair.
QuoteIn the face of a major public backlash and internal questions over the decision to award Matt Araiza the punting job, the Buffalo Bills reversed course by cutting the rookie on Saturday, two days after a lawsuit was filed alleging the player and two college teammates gang-raped a teenager last fall.
“The last 48 hours have been very difficult for a lot of people. It’s been tough. And you know, we sympathize with this whole situation, all the parties involved, this young woman, what she went through,” general manager Brandon Beane said during a 26-minute news conference alongside coach Sean McDermott.
“But at this time, we just think it’s the best move for everyone to move on from Matt and let him take care of this situation and focus on that. So, we’re gonna part ways there,” Beane added.
QuoteBeane said the Bills were not aware of the allegations made against Araiza at the time they drafted him. And had they known, Beane said, they would have removed him from consideration.
The decision to cut ties with their sixth-round draft pick out of San Diego State comes after Buffalo cleared the way for Araiza to take over the punting duties by releasing returning veteran Matt Haack on Monday.
The Bills opted then to keep Araiza even while being aware of the allegations made against him since late July. The team then stood by the player by announcing it “conducted a thorough examination” into the matter a day after the lawsuit was filed.
QuoteAsked about the decision to cut Haack, who subsequently was picked up by the Indianapolis Colts, Beane said:
“That’s a tough one. You can second guess whether that was the right move. We’ll definitely look at that going forward if this situation or a similar situation happens.”
QuoteBeane said the team did as much as it could in getting as many details as possible, while noting many of the allegations were unavailable because the results of the San Diego police investigation has not been released. He said the team decided not to “rush to judgment” based on the information it had, while noting Araiza never changed his version of what happened.
“You want to give everyone as much due process as you can. Again, we’re not a judge and a jury,” Beane said.
McDermott then interjected by saying the team did consider the victim’s version of events as contained in the lawsuit.
“We did take those very seriously. I want everyone to understand that. That’s a serious deal right there,” McDermott said.
Araiza’s release begins to ease a crisis which has shaken the team as reflected by McDermott having difficulty containing his emotions while discussing the situation following a 21-0 preseason loss at Carolina on Friday night.
QuoteIn Buffalo, the focus shifts to why the Bills weren’t aware of the allegations against Araiza when selecting the San Diego State player in the sixth round of the draft in April. Though he was college football’s top punter last year, and earned the nickname “Punt God” because of a booming left leg, Araiza was the third punter selected in the draft.
This is from an earlier AP article and Beane has since clarified when the Bills became aware
QuoteIt’s unclear whether Araiza informed the NFL about the allegations in the months leading up to the draft.
Executives from two different teams told The Associated Press they became aware of Araiza’s involvement in an incident during the draft process, but neither person knew the extent of the allegations. Executives from three other teams said they had no knowledge of the allegations against Araiza before the draft and only learned of the incident Thursday. All the people spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Though it’s unclear when the Bills first became aware of the allegations, they knew by the end of July when Dan Gilleon, the lawyer representing the alleged victim identified in the lawsuit as “Jane Doe,” contacted the team’s legal counsel, Kathryn D’Angelo, by email.
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35 minutes ago, ganesh said:
Is this the case of the scouts (or the Bills internal investigations team) doing a piss poor job of NOT knowing of a police complaint against the player ? I think these are the folks who need to be fired for putting this franchise in this position. And if they did know about it and put it under the mat, Kim should be personally firing them
TBH, I'm not sure how information about police complaints gets disseminated. I believe Araiza or his lawyer said that the police didn't ask to interview him until after the LA Times ran stories about the case in early June. So he may not have known there was a criminal investigation?
But, students who called SDSU anonymously reportedly raised concerns that there were rumors of a rape at this off campus house circulating through the athletic department and the football team knew about it.....This is EXACTLY the sort of thing the area scouts/assistants and background investigators are supposed to pick up in the months leading to the draft.
Now I grant, a 6th round pick and a small school without tons of prospects don't get the same attention as the guys who are picked in the top 3 rounds. But they shouldn't get no attention.
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1 minute ago, ganesh said:
I mean - there is.a police complaint by the girl registered last year when the event occurred!
Is that public information in any way at this point?
Just now, rpmfla said:Beane stated several times that they were letting Matt go because they "thought it was best for Matt"...not once stating that they were doing what was best for the Bills organization. While I have always liked and respected Beane from what little I've seen and heard, that seems at the very least an obviously disingenuous statement.
Agree
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2 minutes ago, Nelius said:
The argument that this now shows Bills players that management doesn't have their back may truly be the dumbest thing I've read all week.
No, I'm pretty sure that's not the takeaway. I can almost guarantee that veterans who aren't rapists aren't second guessing leadership because of a rookie who at minimum made some absolutely terrible decisions. I wouldn't doubt if some are relieved that they don't have to deal with this distraction.
Didn't Barkley actually say on the podium that some of that was "very hard to read"?
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16 minutes ago, Malazan said:
If he comes to a settlement and DA doesn't prosecute then he could get picked up later in the year, but until that is resolved, not team can touch him without getting a nuclear meltdown of PR.
Agree. The optics of the accusations are very very bad.
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Mark Gaughn wrote a pretty good article
Might be paywalled
Some fairly clear info on timeline:
QuoteBeane said the team did not know about allegations when it picked Araiza in the sixth round of the NFL draft in late April.
“We did not know about this, and the league did not know about this,” Beane said. “We’ve reached out to I can tell you double-digit teams at this point, and no one had anything on this. These names were sealed, wherever the investigation was at that point. Yes, if we had this, and we get things like this from guys, you know how important the character and the culture is to Sean (McDermott) and me. And anything that would have been lingering, (Araiza) would have been off our board.”
Beane said the team did not find out about the allegations until late July. The attorney for the alleged victim in the case, Daniel Gilleon, spoke with Kathryn D’Angelo, the Bills’ assistant general counsel, on July 31.
QuoteAsked if the release of the 11-page civil suit brought to light details he wasn’t aware of, Beane said:
“Well, they were accusations,” Beane said. “It just clarified exactly what they were. And at that point, it's a real civil case. It's not a, this may happen. It's something that you have to respond to, and at this point we're not the judge and jury.”
Quote“I would say we had the boulders of what was going to be accused or alleged. But at that point, it wasn't an actual case. And there was, one of the things you look at is, where is this criminally? That’s what you're trying to find out. And so, we were just, again, trying to look at everything. (Any) one of those things on there, if true, would be a no go for us. You know what I mean? So we didn't need all that. We just needed to try and put as many facts together as we could in a limited amount of time.”
QuoteThe Bills released a statement Thursday saying, in part, “Due to the serious nature of the complaint, we conducted a thorough examination of this matter.”
Beane acknowledged: “I mean, as thorough as we can be with what we were able to get our hands on. We probably should have said ongoing. It wasn’t completed. We don’t have a lot of things right now, we really don’t. This is very serious.”
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15 minutes ago, Turbo44 said:
I loved Araiza but he's not consistently a 80 yard kicker. He did that once in preseason, twice in college. He averaged 52 yards in college, so, though impressive, this doesn't equate to consistent 80 yarders.
We'll pick up someone who averages 45-47 and will be fine.
There's also the point that I heard questions about whether he could kick directionally and kick short, to pin a team deep.
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26 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:
As they both said, it was difficult to get any factual information. When the civil suit was filed, it completely changed the dynamics. I think they are still in the same position most rational people are in: They still don’t have enough information to feel certain either way.
I'm curious as to your take about how the actual filing of the civil suit changed the dynamics?
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7 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:
You may be surprised how long it lingers. Unintended consequences.
??
1 minute ago, hemma said:I was wondering if he walked with enough to help his parents with the legal bills.
I bet there will be a stack.
How far does $216k signing bonus go?
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52 minutes ago, SoMAn said:
That was awkward.
I don’t think any of the press even bother to ask about how they will address the replacement punter.
Have they already brought anybody in?
Tim Graham said he had been told by agents representing a lot of punters that the Bills are reaching out to schedule tryouts
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9 minutes ago, RunTheBall said:
Did you watch the press conference or do you not have WI-FI on Mount Virtue?
That seems un-called for
So much so that to address the rest of your post seems no point
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3 minutes ago, RunTheBall said:
Beane clearly didn’t know the allegations that were in the civil lawsuit.
He said they knew the "boulders" after talking to the plaintiff's lawyer - whatever that means to you?
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13 minutes ago, muppy said:
I think it is exactly as Beane stated. They wanted to not rush to an unfair judgment. I think that is fair for both the team AND araiza The ending is the same result it Sucks. Alll of this saga does in all its tawdry detail. I hope the Bills put this behind them ASAP and carry on.. Crazy last coupla days in the chatroom eh mateys?
SMH
I want to put this all behind us. I want beyond anything for the TEAM to put this all behind them and not be distracted.
But honestly - does what Beane said make sense? The Bills knew, at least as of July 30 when the plaintiff's lawyer called Kathryn D'Angelo and told her about the pending civil suit and the "boulders" of what was in it. If they started investigating then and were dedicated to "not rush" and to collect information, how did their "information gathering" suddenly accelerate in the 48 hrs since the civil lawsuit was filed?
It is possible, that when faced with the lawsuit, the Bills information gathering went into overdrive and turned up something that gave them real pause. And if so, Beane and McDermott quite likely can't talk about it for legal reasons. They may have called in a chip or had an investigator call in a chip and get some inside skinny from the SDPD or something. They can't say, if that's so. So there's that.
But I think it's also possible that
1) either McDermott was getting the 'high level summary' version from Beane, and when the lawsuit filing came out and he read it he threw up in his mouth and said "Not on My Team, this has to go play out somewhere else" (or, he watched guys on the team who have wives and daughters throwing up in their mouths)
2) or someone in the Bills PR/Customer Relations department pulled the plug and said "this is a freakin' PR disaster, make it go away"
3) or one of the Pegulas said "Hell to the No, do you hear me? HELL TO THE NO!"
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2 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:
What if the court finds him innocent. Will the moral do-gooders accept it.
The road to perdition is paved with good intentions.
C'mon Exiled. You know better than that.
Courts do not find people innocent. That's not what they do. They find someone guilty, or not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil courts find it "more likely than not" to be true, meaning it can be 50.01% likely or 49.99% unlikely.
None of that means "innocent"
1 minute ago, CountDorkula said:DeShaun Watson was also found innocent.......... so.........
Huh?
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Just now, GoBills808 said:
Maybe some folks don't need a court's decision to determine morality.
From the sound of it, Beane and McDermott needed a court filing decision (lawsuit) to determine morality
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41 minutes ago, SCBills said:
Fwiw, I doubt guys who are sexually active with lots of people get together and swap stories about the time they were accused of rape.
Not in those terms, No
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Just now, Motorin' said:
Where did you read that?
Snap!
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1 minute ago, jlgarsh said:
I read that the team is looking to nullify his entire contract for cause. To do that, they'd have to prove that he lied to them about the situation. If he's innocent, he's not doing an a very good job showing it.
Where did you read this?
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1 minute ago, Canadian Bills Fan said:
Sorry I've tried looking but is there a PC coming? And what time?
1 minute ago, Donuts and Doritos said:Is there a link? Please & thank you.
allegedly to be broadcast on WIBV, but there's a room full of reporters competing for the World Thumb Twiddling Championship at OBD right now.
This has all the hallmarks of the matchless planning involved in the famous Eric Wood "Non Retirement Press Conference"
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3 minutes ago, phypon said:
I've had this link running in the background forever now. I've heard the weather so many times. If you want to know the weather tomorrow, just ask.
They keep replaying excerpts of McDermott's presser from last night, I might involuntarily add it to my memory banks next to the Gettysburg Address, 1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV) and the lyrics of Metallica "No Leaf Clover"
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2 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:
I'm not aware of her ever breaking any news.
Neither, but someone else (Graham?) reported that Araiza's nameplate and number weren't seen in the visitor's locker room after yesterday's game, that he came to the stadium in plain workout clothes vs. Bills themed sweats, and Wawow just reported that the Bills store is no longer selling his jersey.
I think all signs point to "Bills are distancing themselves from Araiza, cut is only a matter of 'when'? "
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5 minutes ago, phypon said:
This is the link that I'm on: https://www.wivb.com/watch-news-4-now/. Looks like it should be played directly there. There is also this, you can open in a separate tab just in case: https://www.wivb.com/sports/buffalo-bills/sean-mcdermott-to-speak-saturday-afternoon/
Thanks Bro! They're playing McDermott's yesterday's press conference after the game right now, is that what you get....
As thanks I give you this lovely picture of reporters waiting in front of an empty podium....
Matt Araiza accused of rape, served with a lawsuit.
in Off the Wall
Posted
Fair enough. Once the lawsuit is in the public domain, it will draw a lot of public scrutiny and public reaction, which must be dealt with. In addition, the player will have the distraction of needing to prepare his defense.
Counterpoint: when the plaintiff's lawyer calls on July 30 and informs you he's preparing a civil suit that will name Araiza among others in the gang rape of a 17 year old girl, does it really take a lot of imagination to see that public scrutiny, public reaction, and distraction for the player are hurtling down the pike? Beane said they only had "the boulders" after the lawyer's phone call to DeAngelo, but not the details.
Yet the LA Times published the following as part of a story on the case July 29th:
That article, which any "thorough examination" or investigation should have uncovered (ie Google) maps a lot of details onto those boulders, including the accusation that the player may have been an accessory to, if not involved, in the gang rape of a minor and the information that there's a police investigation underway:
The lawyer also does not seem shy about distributing photos of his client and her journal, so I wouldn't bet that they didn't get sent to the Bills.
Once the lawyer tells you one of the players named will be Matt Araiza, I don't think you have to have a great imagination to see that the above is going to be a giant PR fiasco if it goes down and the player is still on the Bills roster.
So from the POV of the Bills organization internally, what was the drastic change?