Matt Araiza accused of rape, served with a lawsuit.

[FireChans]

24 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Limiting all of the Araiza talk to this thread is absurd/stupid @SDS. There are SO many layers to it. There will be 25 different conversations at once. How the Bills are handling it is VASTLY different from “who they might replace him with?” You also have the layer of “how much did they know and when?” “What did they know when they released Haack?” There are so many different angles here I can’t understand why it is all being jammed into one conversation?!? This thread will be 400 pages and talk about 137 different things.  
 

The “over moderation” led me to a couple of year hiatus. I enjoy coming here to talk Bills but want to “get in and get out.” I’m curious as to people’s opinions on very specific topics. I don’t care to hear anyone chime in on “how the Bills are handling this” or “giving him the benefit of the doubt” or anything like that. I have an opinion on that and it isn’t changing and will be a hostile discussion (but one that warrants a place here). I ONLY care to hear people’s opinions on other options if Araiza is gone. I know that others feel the same way. We should ABSOLUTELY allow multiple Araiza threads right now. It is THE biggest Bills topic with lots of arms and legs. My $.02.
 

 

IT WORKED. @SDS IS DOING IT. 
 

The King has spoken!

[ExiledInIllinois]

10 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Crazy that this thread is over 200 pages and yet we all know the outcome. He is a punter (probably the least important starting position) and now a distraction to the team, and so he will be cut on or before Tuesday. 

Punter is probably most important.  Your opponents never having a "short field" is a powerful asset! 

[Donuts and Doritos]

Watch the McD press conference. He will get that every time as long as Araiza's on the team. Josh will be asked & Diggs, Davis, Dawkins, Miller, Oliver, every player will get asked about it. (Just like they did about Cole's tweets last year). All season. This is & will continue to be an unnecessary distraction. He's a punter, even if he can kick 100yds that is not going to be the difference between winning the SB or not.

[HomeskillitMoorman]

I just saw the way McD spoke after the game, I would agree with the people that have said his tone didn't seem very optimistic about how this is going to end and the implication was that whatever new news he says he got in the last 24 hours wasn't great. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by HomeskillitMoorman

[mannc]

3 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

No.  I’m saying he was looping in the employer to turn up the heat on the employee. Employer goes to employee, employee gets scared, employee pays.  

Very possible, but that’s a dangerous game. Employer gets scared and cuts employee, there goes your settlement fund.

[Bob in STL]

2 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Bills need to stay the course.  Don't cut.  They are committed. If he will work in the NFL... Bills took all the damage.   Not much more can happen to them now.  Get him ready for opening day and press on.  It's a civil case.  Unless it goes criminal, which seems odd it would go back that way, then cut.

 

Bills paid the down payment on his talent.

The “down payment” is small potatoes in the big picture.  It’s hard for me to understand that you believe this after watching McDermott last night.   Did you watch the post game presser?  
 

No doubt he was surprised by details that are now out there and he feels  this is much more serious now than before.  He clearly feels that information he used was incomplete or possibly was inaccurate?  I hope no one associated with the Bills had this information and did not flow it to him.     

 

 Even if they think Araiza might win the case, I don’t think they want the circus that goes with it.   
 

I see them picking up a punter from other teams cuts and moving on. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Bob in STL

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

You don’t contact a civil attorney, whose  100% biased and being paid by a client to win money for said client, to do your investigation.  Especially one that has been contacting the team in an effort to spur and push for a cash settlement.
 

A third party PI was hired to do the investigation which is 100% the proper path to take in any situation like this.  
 

And the Bills decisions were based on that investigators findings.  
 

IMHO they did it the right way by taking it to a 3rd party and steering clear of a civil attorney looking for money for his client.  Her attorney has released text messages already showing he was pushing for a settlement and emailing the Bills and the Bills attorney.  

The third party PI should’ve been able to at least find out some semblance of the story, but also that she was 17, no?

 

Im not advocating destroying a 21 year old for having sex with a 17 year old that allegedly was portraying herself as 18.  Anyone who is, I’m sorry… but I hope your child never goes to parties in college if you’re expecting ID checks before sex.  
 

However, if the Bills knew that the story of gang rape accusations were out there… and maybe they truly believe, or believed at the time, based on their findings that he’s innocent.   How did they think they could withstand the public onslaught from media and Twitter of both “rape” and “sex w a minor”.  
 

They could both be true or the rape could be false and he was misled on age … but how on earth could the Bills have believed they could navigate both of those allegations?

 

America in 2022… where the accused not only needs to be innocent, but able to prove that innocence within 24-48 hours. 
 

If he did it, then **** him and cut him yesterday with no looking back. 

 

If he didn’t.. well, we may never know. 

[CaliBills]

1 minute ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

I just saw the way McD spoke after the game, his tone didn't seem very optimistic about how this is going to end and the implication was that whatever new news he says he got in the last 24 hours wasn't great. 

He was definitely shaken up/disappointed/disgusted.

 

Like we all were.

[Mr. WEO]

2 minutes ago, mannc said:

How do you know they didn’t ask?

It’s been reported everywhere (just read it in NYT) and her lawyer is saying so. 

[Behindenemylines]

3 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Because the lawyer wants to control what is presented to the Bills and how it's presented. He has no obligation to open his client up to questioning from the organization who employs the defendant.

She's contending that he set it up. The complaint seems pretty clear on that.

Maybe I am naive, but how does one go about setting up a gang rape?  Do you just call a couple guys-people you have obviously discussed coordinating a gang  rape with at some point I. The future- and say “hey I’ve got this girl let’s gang rape her tonight” and you meet someplace pre determined.  That seems just so out there but yet I really can’t think of what else “setting up” would mean. If this is the case then execute all three because they are total psychopaths premeditating such violence.   
 

Someone earlier said punter was responsible for where he dropped her off.  How and why? If he had dropped her off at her own home and subsequently this happened by strangers to him he isn’t responsible. 
 

So it leads back to him having fully and preplanned and executed his plan of gang rape.   
 

quite the well thought out statement by lawyer

 

i am not making light of anything I’m trying to wrap my head around this. If someone called me and asked if I was up for gang raping someone sometime I’d call the police right after I beat the stuffing out of the scumbag. 

[LabattBlue]

2 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Punter is probably most important.  Your opponents never having a "short field" is a powerful asset! 

Cmon man.  Even you don’t believe that. Punter is the most important position on the team?  😂

[ExiledInIllinois]

Just now, Bob in STL said:

The “down payment” is small potatoes in the big picture.  It’s hard for me to understand that you believe this after watching McDermott last night.   Did you watch the post game presser?  
 

No doubt he was surprised by details that are now out there and he feels  this is much more serious now than before.  He clearly feels that information was he missing or was inaccurate?  I hope no one associated with the Bills had this information and did not flow it to him.     

 

 Even if they think Araiza might win the case, I don’t think they want the circus that goes with it.   
 

I see them picking up a punter from other teams cuts and moving on. 

I just don't want a potential HoF leg used against us.  He either works for Bills or rots.  

 

Why are we the bad guys? Because Ravens and Bucs did a little more homework?

[Mango]

8 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

This statement from McD blew my already blown mind.  He almost never says anything of substance in his press conferences, but it's clear that whatever he learned in the last 24 hours disturbed him deeply.  

Likely took Araiza at his word and figured this was some he said she said. Or a small age dispute. HS girl shows up to a college party kind of thing. 
 

Then he saw brutal photos of a 17 year old who was gang raped….

 

I got the sense last night that McD was very emotional. And likely would have torn apart Araiza if left alone in the same rooms 

[Buffalo03]

15 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

 

So I wore this completely ridiculous thing .....just for you

 

You on drugs?

[Ralonzo]

5 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

Because the Bills need to decide what to do. Whichever choice they make will be wrong in the eyes of many. 

 

That's the only thing we really can say with certainty at this point.

 

And that many people will continue to make conclusions and demand actions based on incomplete information of unknowable provenance.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Just now, BTB said:

Cmon man.  Even you don’t believe that. Punter is the most important position on the team?  😂

I do! Give me a guy that can kick a ball consistently 80 yards and I'll turn into Chuck Knox with Tyrod Taylor and WIN!

😉 😜 

[SDS]

26 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Limiting all of the Araiza talk to this thread is absurd/stupid @SDS. There are SO many layers to it. There will be 25 different conversations at once. How the Bills are handling it is VASTLY different from “who they might replace him with?” You also have the layer of “how much did they know and when?” “What did they know when they released Haack?” There are so many different angles here I can’t understand why it is all being jammed into one conversation?!? This thread will be 400 pages and talk about 137 different things.  
 

The “over moderation” led me to a couple of year hiatus. I enjoy coming here to talk Bills but want to “get in and get out.” I’m curious as to people’s opinions on very specific topics. I don’t care to hear anyone chime in on “how the Bills are handling this” or “giving him the benefit of the doubt” or anything like that. I have an opinion on that and it isn’t changing and will be a hostile discussion (but one that warrants a place here). I ONLY care to hear people’s opinions on other options if Araiza is gone. I know that others feel the same way. We should ABSOLUTELY allow multiple Araiza threads right now. It is THE biggest Bills topic with lots of arms and legs. My $.02.
 

 

 

I woke up to two complaints on my Saturday:

 

1. Is no where safe from the rape accusations talk?

2. We need 25 (or 137) different topics all talking about nuanced aspects of this issue. (Which, in my experience, is totally realistic given this community's self-discipline to stay on topic and love of nuanced discourse.)

 

The only thing I know for certain, is we are handling it wrong.

 

[HOUSE]

2 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

You on drugs?

no, i don't do drugs

[Mr. WEO]

33 minutes ago, NyBob85 said:

I generally agree, and if there's a silver lining from a football perspective it's that Araiza is brand new and hasn't had the time to develop many meaningful bonds or experiences with his teammates. If he had been a stalwart part of the team for a few years I'd definitely be more concerned about this situation affecting the team's collective psyche and chemistry. His brief tenure and clubhouse impact up to this point is just another reason to cut him loose now and keep his presence around the other players as inconsequential as possible. 

Name any team where, after their stalwart Punter was cut, their collective psyche and chemistry were damaged..

[Buffalo03]

Just now, HOUSE said:

no, i don't do drugs

I don't like your attitude