Airseven Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Turk71 said: Two other teams drafted punters before the Bills took Araiza, who was clearly the highest rated punter in the draft. Why did they know enough not to pick him and the Bills did not? Did the Bills know and take a chance that it would just go away? Otherwise, why did the Bills think he was dropping and teams were drafting other punters? McD looked uncomfortable and pissed off to be in that situation. If they knew anything it would’ve leaked and the “slide” narrative would’ve commenced. They passed on Araiza because he was a one-dimensional booming punter. The silly social media hype didn’t translate to actual scouting evaluations and thus other punters were rated on par with him. Edited August 27, 2022 by Airseven 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsShredder83 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 1 minute ago, Turk71 said: Two other teams drafted punters before the Bills took Araiza, who was clearly the highest rated punter in the draft. Why did they know enough not to pick him and the Bills did not? Did the Bills know and take a chance that it would just go away? Otherwise, why did the Bills think he was dropping and teams were drafting other punters? McD looked uncomfortable and pissed off to be in that situation. not true. maybe the most wrote about p prospect, but not highest rated. easy to write about a guy measured in yards, a stat any fan can understand. without looking, or even better asking a fan from 31 other teams, how many could tell you what a good hangtime stat is? answers would be all over the map, and an answer i wouldnt have known even 3 weeks ago before pre season 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 57 minutes ago, Beck Water said: I think it goes beyond MA. I think he feels whoever had been delegated the responsibility of investigating, both this summer and of vetting Araiza pre-draft, let him and the organization down. And I think he did not buy into the statement the organization put out and the strategy it implies. you may be correct, but then I think McD has unrealistic thoughts about what sort of investigation the team can do. Without criminal charges this is still a he-she said because there is nothing from the police investigation. Perhaps McD should have asked the police to release the tapes, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 2 minutes ago, Turk71 said: Two other teams drafted punters before the Bills took Araiza, who was clearly the highest rated punter in the draft. Why did they know enough not to pick him and the Bills did not? Did the Bills know and take a chance that it would just go away? Otherwise, why did the Bills think he was dropping and teams were drafting other punters? McD looked uncomfortable and pissed off to be in that situation. People keep saying this, but it’s not true. He was not at all the highest rated punter in the draft, Stout was. Many teams didn’t have Matt in the top 2 even. In the NFL, hang time and accuracy are far more important than distance. And Matt had legit questions about those areas. He had a catchy nickname and the media covered his long punts…that is why fans thought he was the best punter, because he was the only one they heard of. But actual GMs didn’t care as much about punting 80 yards as they do about accuracy and hang time. He had the most intriguing skill set, but he was not the country’s best punter last year nor the most NFL ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's No Moon Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 All I know about any of this is the kid will get his day in court, possibly multiple courts. If he's cleared he will get an opportunity to play with someone. If he's not then he won't. At this point it doesn't need to be Buffalo because the distraction that will happen between now and that time in the future when all of the court dates are over isn't worth it for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. You could tell me right now that he will be a HoF punter and that he will be 100% exonerated 12-18 months from now and it doesn't matter. This season CANNOT be derailed by a god damned punter. It's been 24 hours and I'm already tired of talking and thinking about it and I'm just a fan, I'm not in the building, I don't have to deal with the questions and the scrutiny and just the constant weight on my mind like it clearly showed McD was feeling tonight. I don't want them dealing with this every single day and that's what will happen and the public scrutiny of it will frankly be appropriate given the exceedingly long list of things football has covered up over the years from high school all the way up. They don't get the benefit of the doubt anymore because too many people burned the public for believing them, or wanting to believe them. At the end of the day I want the truth to come out, whatever that truth is. I also want my football team to be in no way connected to it. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangarang Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) 27 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said: This is a pretty damning thing for a leader of this team to say. It basically sounds like Hyde believes the right thing to do is move on from Araiza. Edited August 27, 2022 by Bangarang 2 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 7 minutes ago, Turk71 said: Two other teams drafted punters before the Bills took Araiza, who was clearly the highest rated punter in the draft. Why did they know enough not to pick him and the Bills did not? Did the Bills know and take a chance that it would just go away? Otherwise, why did the Bills think he was dropping and teams were drafting other punters? McD looked uncomfortable and pissed off to be in that situation. I think some rankings had other punters ranked above Azaira. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) 9 minutes 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. Yeah, I think that seems to be the case too. Tomorrow will be very telling, if Matt is cut then it pretty much confirms they found some stuff out that they are not comfortable with at the very least and that will definitely be more damning to Matt’s case in his claims of being innocent. I honestly don’t see how they can keep him on the team past tomorrow if they have any new information that is damning to Matt’s claim of innocence. I suspect we will know pretty early in the morning if he is going to be cut tomorrow. Edited August 27, 2022 by Alphadawg7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigpen65 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 They knew about it for a month at least. So why was he scratched tonight? Pegulas, Beane, and McD aren't free and clear just because they cut him. They still need to answer for themselves 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julian Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 20 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said: ive been in the wait and see crowd, and 99% because i trust sean and kims judgement. if coach came out and went to war for matt tonight, i woulda been ready to roll with that. the opposite happened, for me now im all set, time to get outta the kitchen. Exactly where I am, if McDermott handles this properly and gets the players on board then this may be something of an unfortunate blip in the first 6 minutes of the Americas game the super bowl champions Buffalo Bills 2022 . looking for positives here. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 3 minutes ago, pigpen65 said: They knew about it for a month at least. So why was he scratched tonight? Pegulas, Beane, and McD aren't free and clear just because they cut him. They still need to answer for themselves No they don’t all they need to do is cut them and move on and if you can’t except that find another team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shake_My_Head Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) Per McD's press conference, here's the pretext I think they'll use to cut ties with MA: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2022/08/27/matt-araiza-bills-punter-rape-lawsuit-sean-mcdermott-upset-press-conference/65459704007/ Were you aware that he or his agent were going to put out a statement? No. Do you have a reaction to that statement? Did you read it? Have you seen it? I'm aware of that statement since the game and I'm not going to make a comment on that. Blindsiding the HC and generating more bad press for the team--that alone puts a fork in it, IMO. . Edited August 27, 2022 by Shake_My_Head 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 5 minutes ago, That's No Moon said: All I know about any of this is the kid will get his day in court, possibly multiple courts. If he's cleared he will get an opportunity to play with someone. If he's not then he won't. At this point it doesn't need to be Buffalo because the distraction that will happen between now and that time in the future when all of the court dates are over isn't worth it for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. You could tell me right now that he will be a HoF punter and that he will be 100% exonerated 12-18 months from now and it doesn't matter. This season CANNOT be derailed by a god damned punter. It's been 24 hours and I'm already tired of talking and thinking about it and I'm just a fan, I'm not in the building, I don't have to deal with the questions and the scrutiny and just the constant weight on my mind like it clearly showed McD was feeling tonight. I don't want them dealing with this every single day and that's what will happen and the public scrutiny of it will frankly be appropriate given the exceedingly long list of things football has covered up over the years from high school all the way up. They don't get the benefit of the doubt anymore because too many people burned the public for believing them, or wanting to believe them. At the end of the day I want the truth to come out, whatever that truth is. I also want my football team to be in no way connected to it. but on the other hand, if he is exonerated, it’s not like he can just punt again. He is likely out of the NFL for at least one year by then and has the stain of the investigation and cut on him. He gets cut, that might be it. And suing the wrongful accuser later is no sure winner either and would not make him whole. But, to your point, the distraction is immense, and what if he did do it. The Bills need to decide on a plan (release or wait), release a strong statement regarding that plan, and move on while not discussing the matter further. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Water Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 Transcript of McDermott's Presser https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/transcript-what-an-emotional-sean-mcdermott-said-about-allegations-against-matt-araiza/article_7e76ef00-25bb-11ed-9044-7f0093f5406a.html Quote Opening statement: Understand there was a game just played, but I want to talk about something that’s more important, which is what we have going on with one of the members of our team right now, Matt Araiza. It is a situation that is extremely serious, just hard to go through and it’s not a situation that I or we take lightly whatsoever, and it’s very serious. I understand the sensitivity of the situation, and it’s clear we have work to do to continue to figure this thing out here and we’re going to do that. Selected excerpts: Quote Q. What makes him a great kid, which is what you called him this week? SM: “Again, not going to get into who Matt is and his character and all that type of stuff. I don’t think that’s right right now. I can tell you this, my heart and thoughts and prayers go out to the people involved. Right. And that includes Matt, it includes both sides here, and the victim and everyone involved. Our prayers go out to them.” Quote Q. Have you been satisfied with the organization’s response to these allegations? SM: “We have work to do. We have work to do.” Q. Why didn’t Araiza play tonight? SM: “It was my decision. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel like it was right to do that.” Q. What are the spirits in the locker room? SM: “Where do you want to start? It is something that I and we take very seriously and that’s where we’re at.” Quote Q. What does that work involve? How thorough was the investigation? SM: “There’s work to be done. I’m not gonna go into details on that. We’ve got more work to do.” Quote Q. What work has to be done? SM: “It’s just a matter of trying to find the truth at the end of the day, right? That’s the goal is find the truth and do the right thing. And that’s what I keep coming back to in my mind and my heart is find out the truth to the best of my ability and do the right thing.” Q. At what point can you share details of the timeline about exactly what you knew and when? SM: “I’ll see. I mean, like I said, we got a lot of work in front of us here, a lot of work and we got to figure this thing out.” Quote Q. Is not addressing this and letting it fester a concern? SM: “Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, all of it all. That’s one piece, but I’m concerned about all of it. And again, people involved on both sides. People are hurt, people are hurting, fans are hurting. I understand that and again, we want to find the truth and figure this thing out the right way and do the right thing. And that’s what I know to do. And that’s what we’re going to work on.” Q: Did Araiza lie to the team? SM: “I’m not gonna get into that again, respectfully. It’s just working on finding that truth. And that’s where we’re at with it.” Quote Q. Do feel misled by any of the parties? SM: “I’m not gonna get into that. Again, it’s getting into the details that I can’t get into right now.” Q. How much did you learn in the last 24 hours that you didn’t already know? SM: “I would say there’s been some, and I’m not going to deny that, and that’s why I have more work to do on this." Q: Do you put the blame on that on Matt, on the organization? Who's responsible for you not having that information previously? SM: "I’m more trying to be solution oriented right now. And that’s where I’m headed. And that’s where we need to be headed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 5 minutes ago, pigpen65 said: They knew about it for a month at least. So why was he scratched tonight? Pegulas, Beane, and McD aren't free and clear just because they cut him. They still need to answer for themselves the lawsuit may have revealed addition information or made more sources of info available to the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie's Dead Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 1 hour ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said: Are you serious? He evaded every question. How many times did he say "we have work to do" Wtf does that even mean ? You need to read between the lines. "Did you feel you were misled by Matt?" "I'm not gonna go there." By not saying "no", he said volumes. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billieve420 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 15 minutes ago, Turk71 said: Two other teams drafted punters before the Bills took Araiza, who was clearly the highest rated punter in the draft. Why did they know enough not to pick him and the Bills did not? Did the Bills know and take a chance that it would just go away? Otherwise, why did the Bills think he was dropping and teams were drafting other punters? McD looked uncomfortable and pissed off to be in that situation. Have to believe it was football related as Araiza did not hold in college. I seriously doubt Araiza would have been drafted if they knew about this situation. Now we can question how in their pre draft process and background checks this ended up being missed. However, I believe the Bills found out about this just recently at least a few weeks ago. Genuinely curious how much McDermott knew about this situation and if there is any disconnect between Beane and him. Releasing Haack looks like a poor decision in retrospect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan692 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 2 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said: You need to read between the lines. "Did you feel you were misled by Matt?" "I'm not gonna go there." By not saying "no", he said volumes. He also said he learned new things but at the moment its major cover up mode so who the hell knows. Its pretty damning that the team was notified over 3 weeks ago and now seem blindsided and stunned like they are in a lurch. Its a rookie punter!!!! Just move on jfc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Water Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) 38 minutes ago, StHustle said: You are wrong sir. Law enforcement constantly uses polygraphs to eliminate suspects. It’s not used as a means to create suspects…but often times (constantly) used as a way to eliminate suspects from a pool. They need to pass with flying colors. If Araiza can pass at least two polygraphs from independent administrators (at least one being from the plaintiff) that would prove his case! Um, you know you're talking to an experienced LEO here in Levi? That said, I think there is a widespread public perception that polygraphs can be fooled or evaded. So I don't think it would be the conclusive proof you believe it would be. Edited August 27, 2022 by Beck Water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan692 Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 1 minute ago, billieve420 said: Genuinely curious how much McDermott knew about this situation and if there is any disconnect between Beane and him. Releasing Haack looks like a poor decision in retrospect. Especially since it was reported that the lawyer for the victim notified the bills over 3 or 4 weeks ago.... Seems pretty amateurish to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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