McDermott/Beane press conference 8/27: Matt Araiza released

[BullBuchanan]

50 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

August 5 LA times article, police spokesman states the case they forwarded to the DA includes 3 terabytes of digital evidence.  That's a lot of terabytes if there aren't videos/photos.

Even if it's video, 3TB is ~90-150 hours of 4k Blu-Ray quality video. I find it unlikely that much material is actual evidence. More than likely, they have dumps of multiple devices that include mountains of unrelated data.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Hearing Beane say he didn’t know how McDermott even coached the game was pretty eye opening. Not many have talked about it. I really think the Bills were caught off guard with some of the allegations that were released recently.

 

I’m also thinking about if the civil suit was filed in September how this could’ve been a huge distraction and problem for the team. 

[78thealltimegreat]

1 minute ago, BillsFan692 said:

Lol what? He is just reporting what everyone in the world is thinking... bean and mcdermott look like #######s rn who cared more about winning football games than doing the right thing.

 

Now, they have recently made a turn for the better by doing the right thing and cutting this rapist punter. However, the definite perception of public is that they only did the right thing after they got caught doing the wrong thing.

 

Its a bad look and its being reported literally everywhere. This reporter is just doing his job and stating the very obvious.

 

It will blow over eventually. Bills are the least juicy target in all this next up is San Diego State and police department who were far more complicit than buffalo bills.

 

Just hope these dudes learn from this

No I’d say Jay won’t be happy till their fired and and can’t wait to write headlines how the Bills came up short this year because of this. Then next year  how players want out and Sean and Brandon caused this. Then in two years how Josh wants to be traded. 

[Motorin']

1 minute ago, Big Blitz said:

 

 

 

 

I see it (and many others do to) that the Bills went above and beyond - that we're the anti Browns.   That as soon as this escalated to something more they officially moved on.

 

The competition with Haack was seen as irrelevant bc he was gone anyway.  

 

They did the best they could given the circumstances and some would say they aren't sure he should have even been cut.  

 

 

I'm good with the decision and think the problem was the Tweet Thursday night left the "cut him immediately because feelings" crowd thinking they wanted to ignore it or they saw all these "facts" and said yea we're still good with him.  

 

Yeah, the one big mistake the Bills made was saying they had conducted a thorough examination prior to naming him starter when in reality they could not possibly have obtained all of the facts. 

 

Beane was upfront that that was a poor response and that they should have said they are in the process of conducting an examination. 

 

It's over now. They made mistakes, admitted them and did the right thing as soon as they could. 

 

The whole situation is sad, but it's not something that should hang over their heads for the remainder of the season. And I don't think it will. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

3 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Even if it's video, 3TB is ~90-150 hours of 4k Blu-Ray quality video. I find it unlikely that much material is actual evidence. More than likely, they have dumps of multiple devices that include mountains of unrelated data.

Possibly hours of video interviews. 

[PromoTheRobot]

4 minutes ago, BillsFan692 said:

Lol what? He is just reporting what everyone in the world is thinking... bean and mcdermott look like #######s rn who cared more about winning football games than doing the right thing.

 

Now, they have recently made a turn for the better by doing the right thing and cutting this rapist punter. However, the definite perception of public is that they only did the right thing after they got caught doing the wrong thing.

 

Its a bad look and its being reported literally everywhere. This reporter is just doing his job and stating the very obvious.

 

It will blow over eventually. Bills are the least juicy target in all this next up is San Diego State and police department who were far more complicit than buffalo bills.

 

Just hope these dudes learn from this

 

They did the "right thing," didn't they? They just didn't do it the split second Twitter demanded it happen.

 

And if you don't think winning isn't job #1, maybe the Bills can serve penance by forfeiting this season. 

[Beck Water]

5 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

Skurski should get over blaming Beane for not immediately releasing Araiza. 

 

The only reason the Bills were in the position they were in is bc Araiza did not disclose that he was under investigation for rape.

 

The Bills had no way of knowing there was an open investigation. The fact that Araiza never told his agent, the NFL or the Bills is the cause of the short term black cloud over the organization.

 

Per Araiza's lawyer, he was surprised to read the June 3 LA Times article (which named no names) and realize there was an active criminal investigation ongoing, and that's when he started looking into hiring a criminal defense attorney.  But the attorney seemed focused on defending Araiza from a charge of statutory rape.  Whether that focus results from Araiza knowing he wasn't involved in anything else, or concealing/minimizing involvement, we can't say.

 

Apparently there were rumors around the athletic department around a gang rape and Araiza being potentially involved, and Araiza did not disclose this to teams pre-draft.  Did he have an obligation to do so?  (asking)

 

If there were rumors, it would also be true that the Bills could have uncovered them.  And NFL teams employ former LEOs who have "ins" with law enforcement just so that they can get information - not confidential details, but whatever one LEO is comfortable sharing with another.  I'm not sure what that would be in a case like this.

 

3 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

Yeah, the one big mistake the Bills made was saying they had conducted a thorough examination prior to naming him starter when in reality they could not possibly have obtained all of the facts. 

 

Beane was upfront that that was a poor response and that they should have said they are in the process of conducting an examination. 

 

It's over now. They made mistakes, admitted them and did the right thing as soon as they could. 

 

The whole situation is sad, but it's not something that should hang over their heads for the remainder of the season. And I don't think it will. 

 

I am fervently hoping that you are correct.

[BillsFan692]

12 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

They did the "right thing," didn't they? They just didn't do it the split second Twitter demanded it happen.

 

And if you don't think winning isn't job #1, maybe the Bills can serve penance by forfeiting this season. 

I mean its the right thing if you do it for the right reasons but if the reason is "cause my hand got caught in the cookie jar" than its pretty SUS.

 

Either way I would agree they made the right move it just took them longer than it should have and they have to own that now.

 

Itll blow over for buffalo but they still look dumb especially with cutting Hack

Edited August 28, 2022 by BillsFan692

[CSBill]

13 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

They did the "right thing," didn't they? They just didn't do it the split second Twitter demanded it happen.

 

And if you don't think winning isn't job #1, maybe the Bills can serve penance by forfeiting this season. 

The issue is not what they did Thursday, the issue is what they didn’t do for three weeks before with admittedly having the  “boulders” of the accusations. Those seem to be some pretty big boulders to ignore for three weeks. …. Reporters have the right and responsibility to ask those questions. 
 

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by CSBill

[Rico]

5 hours ago, CSBill said:

 

Let's not kid ourselves, in the eyes of the national media, and the general public outside of WNY, the Bills and the Browns are now the same thing.

More like in the eyes of some nitwits on Twitter..

[Buffalo Junction]

5 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Per Araiza's lawyer, he was surprised to read the June 3 LA Times article (which named no names) and realize there was an active criminal investigation ongoing, and that's when he started looking into hiring a criminal defense attorney.  But the attorney seemed focused on defending Araiza from a charge of statutory rape.  Whether that focus results from Araiza knowing he wasn't involved in anything else, or concealing/minimizing involvement, we can't say.

 

Apparently there were rumors around the athletic department around a gang rape and Araiza being potentially involved, and Araiza did not disclose this to teams pre-draft.  Did he have an obligation to do so?  (asking)

 

If there were rumors, it would also be true that the Bills could have uncovered them.  And NFL teams employ former LEOs who have "ins" with law enforcement just so that they can get information - not confidential details, but whatever one LEO is comfortable sharing with another.  I'm not sure what that would be in a case like this.

 

 

I am fervently hoping that you are correct.

NFL teams have tremendous resources, but I think it’s likely that they do not deep dive as intensely on back of the roster prospects and specialists compared to first few rounds. That’s probably compounded when they look into players at smaller schools where there aren’t multiple prospects every year or alumni already on the roster to glean information from. 
 

The kid is off the roster now. I’m actually interested to see if SDst and/ SDPD brushed over any of this when the Bills were investigating….. perhaps it’ll come to light. 

[syhuang]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

It's quite plausible to me what someone suggested, that perhaps the Bills weren't expecting to draft Araiza in the round where they had him slotted, so they didn't put much of their horsepower into vetting him. 

 

But it's not "psychic needed" levels of implausible to believe that some info was out there and able to be uncovered, because reportedly at least two teams DID uncover it (AP report, two primary sources needed)

 

There was an active police investigation.  Teams employ former LEOs to research whether there are any police actions against a prospect - maybe not the details, but the fact that there is an open investigation.  If the LA times is correct (and they are a paper that confirms primary sources), this was not a cursory investigation.  It involved 20 personnel.  That's enough people that it seems fairly likely an insider police source would be able to find out an investigation was ongoing and it involved members of the SDSU football team.

 

There were student reports last fall of a gang rape in an off campus house, involving 5 football players including "Matt", stating that the football team all knew and rumors were spreading throughout the athletic department. 

 

That is the sort of thing that area scouts, student-ish age assistants, and deep background investigators are employed to find out, and in fact per AP, at least two teams (who weren't interested in a punter) did uncover something.

 

 

 

Just to be sure, is the part you feel doesn't make sense the following statement Beane made yesterday? Your take is that Buffalo Bills as a football organization, not a legal authority, should be able to get sufficient information to release Azaria before the suit and whatever Beane said about "trying to put facts around a legal situation, sometimes with limited information" is implausible?

 

Or do you feel the part doesn't make sense is "obviously Matt's version was different. And you want to give everyone as much due process as you can" because of LA times article, knowing of ongoing investigation, contact by Daniel Gilleon, etc that they should ignore Azaria's version and shouldn't give everyone as much due process as they can?

 

or it's the combination of both that you feel doesn't make sense?

 

 

---------------------------------------------

 

“We were trying not to rush to judgment,” Beane said. “And obviously Matt's version was different. And you want to give everyone as much due process as you can. Again, we're not a judge and a jury. ... “I would say it’s not easy, you’re trying to put facts around a legal situation, sometimes with limited information, and so ultimately that’s where we’re at today with a decision."

 

---------------------------------------------

 

 

[BillsFan692]

15 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

They did the "right thing," didn't they? They just didn't do it the split second Twitter demanded it happen.

 

And if you don't think winning isn't job #1, maybe the Bills can serve penance by forfeiting this season. 

They "did the right thing" only after a media ***** storm forced them too and not one minute before.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, BillsFan692 said:

I mean its the right thing if you do it for the right reasons but if the reason is "cause my hand got caught in the cookie jar" than its pretty SUS.

 

Either way I would agree they made the right move it just took them longer than it should have and they have to own that now.

 

Itll blow over for buffalo but they still look dumb especially with cutting Hack

 

How long should it have took? The moment the Twitter mob demanded it? But I'm reading that wouldn't have been enough.

[LeGOATski]

2 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

Except for, you know, her allegation that Araiza participated in the second encounter.  Don't forget about that.  Kind of important, don't you think?

Try to comprehend what I said and to what I was responding to and confirm if your response is warranted at all. Go ahead, use that brain of yours.

[78thealltimegreat]

1 minute ago, Rico said:

More like in the eyes of some nitwits on Twitter..

If the DA declines to bring charges against Matt these people will barely mention it kinda the way a newspaper runs a major story then when they get it wrong it shows up in a one line paragraph on page 11 under a sale at the local grocery store 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, BillsFan692 said:

They "did the right thing" only after a media ***** storm forced them too and not one minute before.

 

The moment the article came out it was too late to  do anything.

[BillsFan692]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

 

How long should it have took? The moment the Twitter mob demanded it? But I'm reading that wouldn't have been enough.

When the lawyer sent them the civil suit 3-4 weeks ago before the media knew of the story would have been the right time.

 

 

Instead, they fired the old punter, went 110% in on matt only to fully reverse course at break neck speeds once the media broke the story.

 

 

According to you this looks good???

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

 

The moment the article came out it was too late to  do anything.

It was too late to do "the right thing" which would have had to been done before the media ***** storm. Its not the right thing if you only doing it to protect your own ass

[LeGOATski]

1 hour ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

 

He’s gotten national attention for his work thus far, elevating his status and his style of practicing law.  One could argue it all makes sense, and he’s doing exactly what he set out to do. 

He has clear motives, yes.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, BillsFan692 said:

When the lawyer sent them the civil suit 3-4 weeks ago before the media knew of the story would have been the right time.

 

 

Instead, they fired the old punter, went 110% in on matt only to fully reverse course at break neck speeds once the media broke the story.

 

 

According to you this looks good???

 

Well if it was so obvious why didn't you raise the issue weeks ago? Oh you didn't know about it? Gee.