Bills show what a class organization they are

[Warcodered]

Just now, UKBillFan said:

 

Think they cut Haack because they had no intention of going into the season with him as punter either way. It was a case of Araiza or another.

Think it was a combination of just multiple situations cluster*****ing together. The punter battle situation was at the point where the player friendly thing to do was to let him go, but from the point of view of these things hanging over the teams head it'd make since not to let him go until they had to.

[klos63]

1 minute ago, UKBillFan said:

 

Think they cut Haack because they had no intention of going into the season with him as punter either way. It was a case of Araiza or another.

That doesn't make much sense. Why have him in camp to begin with?

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, UKBillFan said:

 

Learned new information from the moment the civil lawsuit was released which they were not aware of previously.

 

 

After they were given a heads up of the impending filing and the nature of the allegations and after they conducted a thorough investigation, what did they learn Thursday?  They were still publicly standing behind him.  Did they learn something new Friday?  They still sent him to Carolina as the intended Punter for the game.  Did they learn something new at 5:30 Friday, when they pulled him from the lineup?  Was is on  Saturday when they finally cut him loose that they learned this new info?

 

 

[Motorin']

3 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Isn't there a whole thread to debate Matts guilt or innocence or the merits of the case? 

 

TAKE ALL THAT NOISE THERE.

 

Beane, McD, and the Bills organization deserve a heck of a lot more benefit of the doubt here than all these conspiracy nonsense theories that keep getting repeated.  

 

To be honest, I find the position of many people here to be both disappointing and disturbing.  Stop trying to negatively sensationalize the situation into something twisted to fuel your interest in tearing down the character of this regime.  It's 100% misguided.  

 

Bills, McD, and Beane handled this incredibly well respecting the fact these were accusations...not criminal chargers, nor a civil case yet...when they were made aware of them by a civil attorney looking for money for his client.  At the same time, taking them very serious and working behind the scenes to try and get enough info to figure out if this is a credible accusation and moving towards a real case.  

 

Once it progressed into a filed case, their inability to get enough of the things they tried to get, making it seemingly impossible for them to determine any truth or prove the version Matt told them, they had no choice to cut him and move on.   And once the situation escalated into an actual filed civil suit, they immediately pulled him from the game, practices, etc and cut him the next day after the game.

 

And not only that, they did not run or hide from this.  McD sat up there after the game and immediately went into this and repeatedly said no football questions, all we are going to talk about is this because its bigger than football.   Most coaches would not have even taken questions on it, let alone the entirety or the press conference.  

 

Then the next day, Beane and McD again sat out there for over 25 minutes taking questions, even stupid and repetitive ones, without hesitation and disclosing as much as they could considering its an ongoing case as of now.  Most teams would have just had a GM release a statement, a controlled short video or interview.  Or if they had the courage to take questions, would have done a few questions and then moved on.  

 

These guys are a total class act and never hide or shy away in moments like this.  And honestly, if you cant see that then I don't know what to tell you.  Too many people in this society want to turn everything into the negative way they view the world.  And with McD and Beane...you are way off the mark. 

 

I agree with your take on the way Beane and McD handled it. 

 

I think a lot of the intense reaction Bills fans have expressed over the last few days has more to do with the opinion expressed by a contingent on the board, after the civil case was filed, that the Bills have to stand by their player unless and until proven guilty. And the initial Bills message that they had thoroughly examined the situation and have no further comment exasperated the concern that the Bills had decided to stand by their player. 

 

That worry began to change when he didn't take the field and didn't practice with the team. 

 

There's been a number of terrible takes, from assuming he's guilt of everything to blaming the young woman. 

 

There's always going to be bad takes on the boar... See the Josh Allen Draft thread as prime example.

 

I'm seeing a lot of guys whose initial reaction was, the Bills need to stand up for him until proven guilty, being the ones that are mad at the people who are upset the Bills waited as long as they did to address it. Yet for the most part, most everyone despite their initial take has arrived at the same conclusion. That he can't be on the team at this point...

 

September 8th cannot get here soon enough... At the same time, the Bills players had better prepare for the inevitable questions that are going to come from the national media.

 

[UKBillFan]

Just now, Warcodered said:

Think it was a combination of just multiple situations cluster*****ing together. The punter battle situation was at the point where the player friendly thing to do was to let him go, but from the point of view of these things hanging over the teams head it'd make since not to let him go until they had to.

 

Said it before, probably on another thread, but cynically have to wonder if we cut Haack when we did to see if the defense attorney did anything to cause an issue moving forward. We had over two weeks to sort this out when he did, compared to nine days if we waited until Tuesday.

[T master]

1 minute ago, BTB said:

So you want the Bills to use two of the 53 man roster spots on punters?

 

I really don't know what they should do but up until now they have preached family - team - culture & up until now they have thought of him as that person which was why they drafted him & at this point these are accusations made by someone & if this is a "Team mate" believed to be the guy they drafted should they have just dumped him ?

 

I really don't know the answer but we have all seen this type of thing before look at the Duke lacrosse team they were guilty by social & lame stream media  until proven innocent how soon we forget .

 

It is definitely a hard place for Beane, McD & the Pegula's to be i don't envy them but if he is vindicated what will that say ? Just a question .

[LabattBlue]

6 minutes ago, tomur67 said:

She said, he said, her lawyer said, his lawyer said.  All of of you that are quick to make judgement, would you be saying the same thing if the accuser was naming  Stephon Diggs or Josh Allen as the culprit. I would guess not.

The better question is what would Mcd or Beane do if it was a high profile player?  What you or I say doesn’t really matter much in terms of who stays and who goes.  

[UKBillFan]

1 minute ago, klos63 said:

That doesn't make much sense. Why have him in camp to begin with?

 

Because they had doubts about Araiza's holding and hang time, but didn't see a reason to bring in another punter whilst they were testing him out. I don't think we ever intended to go into the season with Haack as punter, but that's just my opinion.

[Alphadawg7]

47 minutes ago, nucci said:

Not sure classy is the right term. They stayed quiet for a bit and made what they think is the right decision.... Now it's time for football

 

No disrespect bud, and really not singling you out on this, but what did you expect them to do?  And to be clear, I don't have an exception with your post here, its a good one.  I am just asking about the stayed quiet for a bit.  Others are really stuck on that, so this reply is more about addressing that staying quiet from the overall thread than your post here.  

 

This was a sensitive subject they had no idea that was true or not.  They were just accusations, and we live in a country where false accusations are made every day.  Heck, let's be real, it so common that our own politicians and media on both sides of the aisle literally lie and make false accusations daily to the entire country.  

 

My point really is there were no criminal chargers (still aren't) and there was no civil case (just got filed).  A civil attorney, who is someone working to get money for his client, contacted the accused employer to push pressure on Matt that he has something massive to lose here to incentivize a settlement and for the most he can get for his client.  

 

Anyone would be reckless to take that at face value, assume guilt, and throw the player under the bus making public statements on something they don't not yet know are credible accusations.  Bills not only respected the seriousness of the accusations and victim, but also the seriousness of the accused and working to figure this out behind the scenes before making any decisions or statements.  

 

Also, lets not forget these are football coaches and football executives.  They are not professional investigators, lawyers, etc...this could not have been, and clearly was not, easy for them to deal with and figure out what the right thing was to do.  And there is 0% chance any decision they made would have been seen 100% of all people approve of.  Had they just cut him over an accusation from a civil attorney working on a settlement, they would have looked bad to for not giving it a chance to shake out and see if this is credible or not.  

 

So people just need to give these guys a break (not really talking to you on that, you seem to be pretty level headed on this whole thing, just saying to the board in general)...they did what they felt was the best they could in a really bad spot.

 

Now lets all move on and get back to football.  This is in the rear view mirror and they guys did the right thing.  

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Alphadawg7

[JDHillFan]

46 minutes ago, pigpen65 said:

No, the Bills got caught with their pants down trying to sneak one under the bench. Now they look like ***** and the morals of the FO, which had been pretty immaculate, are stained. Not to mention from a logistics standpoint they went into camp with two punters and came out with none.

Do you, throwing this out to the rest of the Bills shat the bed folks as well, have any tix to sell for the Titans game? Looking for three cheap ones. 

[T master]

9 minutes ago, klos63 said:

How many times must people have it explained that innocent until proven guilty is for a court proceeding, it's not about job security.

 

'gold digging slut'?  I'm guessing we know who's side you are on.

 

Well apparently you don't because my exact words were "What if this person is a gold digging slut" but you must just assumed what you wanted to & forgot to read that part but if you go back you can read the entirety of what i said & no you don't know who's side i'm on .

Edited August 28, 2022 by T master

[UKBillFan]

3 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

After they were given a heads up of the impending filing and the nature of the allegations and after they conducted a thorough investigation, what did they learn Thursday?  They were still publicly standing behind him.  Did they learn something new Friday?  They still sent him to Carolina as the intended Punter for the game.  Did they learn something new at 5:30 Friday, when they pulled him from the lineup?  Was is on  Saturday when they finally cut him loose that they learned this new info?

 

 

 

From memory they travelled to Carolina on Wednesday, which was before the civil lawsuit was issued. It could have been something in the lawsuit or reading the journal entries posted on Twitter, that's my feeling anyway when McDermott said, post Panthers game, that he had learned something he wasn't aware of in the past 24 hours.

 

I think him playing then not playing on Friday was potentially down to discussions with the rest of the team and McDermott. Possibly because of how quickly and viciously the social media blow up occured. I think the cut may have been decided at that point too; Araiza was seen at the stadium in his street clothes rather than wearing anything with Bills branding. I don't think his locker has his name on it either; it was removed prior to kick off.

 

 

[Alphadawg7]

7 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

I agree with your take on the way Beane and McD handled it. 

 

I think a lot of the intense reaction Bills fans have expressed over the last few days has more to do with the opinion expressed by a contingent on the board, after the civil case was filed, that the Bills have to stand by their player unless and until proven guilty. And the initial Bills message that they had thoroughly examined the situation and have no further comment exasperated the concern that the Bills had decided to stand by their player. 

 

That worry began to change when he didn't take the field and didn't practice with the team. 

 

There's been a number of terrible takes, from assuming he's guilt of everything to blaming the young woman. 

 

There's always going to be bad takes on the boar... See the Josh Allen Draft thread as prime example.

 

I'm seeing a lot of guys whose initial reaction was, the Bills need to stand up for him until proven guilty, being the ones that are mad at the people who are upset the Bills waited as long as they did to address it. Yet for the most part, most everyone despite their initial take has arrived at the same conclusion. That he can't be on the team at this point...

 

September 8th cannot get here soon enough... At the same time, the Bills players had better prepare for the inevitable questions that are going to come from the national media.

 

 

Spot on 👏🙌 

[Dr. K]

2 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

No disrespect bud, but what did you expect them to do?  This was a sensitive subject they had no idea that was true or not.  They were just accusations, and we live in a country where false accusations are made every day.  Heck, let's be real, it so common that our own politicians and media on both sides of the aisle literally lie and make false accusations daily to the entire country.  

 

Point is, there were no criminal chargers (still aren't) and there was no civil case (just got filed).  A civil attorney, who is someone working to get money for his client, contacted the accused employer to push pressure on Matt that he has something massive to lose here to incentivize a settlement and for the most he can get for his client.  

 

Anyone would be crazy to take that at face value, assume guilt, and throw the player under the bus making public statements on something they don't not yet know are credible accusations.  Bills not only respected the seriousness of the accusations and victim, but also the seriousness of the accused and working to figure this out behind the scenes before making any decisions or statements.  

 

Also, lets not forget these are football coaches and football executives.  They are not professional investigators, lawyers, etc...this could not and clearly was not, easy for them to deal with and figure out what the right thing was to do.  And there is 0% chance any decision they made would have been seen 100% of all people approve of.  Had they just cut him over an accusation from a civil attorney working on a settlement, they would have looked bad to for not giving it a chance to shake out and see if this is credible or not.  

 

So people just need to give these guys a break...they did what they felt was the best they could in a really bad spot.

 

Now lets all move on and get back to football.  This is in the rear view mirror and they guys did the right thing.  

Very well reasoned, IMHO.

[Billzgobowlin]

5 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

 

Said it before, probably on another thread, but cynically have to wonder if we cut Haack when we did to see if the defense attorney did anything to cause an issue moving forward. We had over two weeks to sort this out when he did, compared to nine days if we waited until Tuesday.

I'm guessing we cut Haack to give him a chance to catch on with another team.  The legal situation was not a concern because it was unsubstantiated.  What changed is it became public and details were outlined for a civil case.  If the civil case hadn't been filed he would still be our punter.  My guess is the girl doesn't remember fully what went on and was trying to piece the night together.  I don't think she is looking for a big settlement but sincerely thinks he is guilty and he thinks he's innocent.

[NickelCity]

11 minutes ago, T master said:

It is definitely a hard place for Beane, McD & the Pegula's to be i don't envy them but if he is vindicated what will that say ? Just a question .

 

Almost nothing. At this moment in time there was no viable alternative to their decision.

 

[unbillievable]

1 minute ago, NickelCity said:

 

Almost nothing. At this moment in time there was no viable alternative to their decision.

 

 

13 minutes ago, T master said:

 

It is definitely a hard place for Beane, McD & the Pegula's to be i don't envy them but if he is vindicated what will that say ? Just a question .

No matter what happens, his Bills career is over.

There will be a group of people that will believe he is guilty, regardless of whatever facts are revealed in the future. 

A punter is not worth the PR hit to the process.

Fans need to m

ove on.

 

 

[nedboy7]

30 minutes ago, K-9 said:

I don’t know how many times I’ve addressed the issue and linked the legal info, but California law allows defendants to prove they had a reasonable and actual reason to believe the victim was 18 or over at the time. It’s not cut and dried at all that Araiza admitted to felony statutory rape.

is it reasonable if the victim said she was 18 in your opinion?  Btw don’t you think an NFL bound dude should have enough brain cells to protect himself  from such a situation? He is an idiot regardless. 

[Shaw66]

26 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Isn't there a whole thread to debate Matts guilt or innocence or the merits of the case? 

 

TAKE ALL THAT NOISE THERE.

 

Beane, McD, and the Bills organization deserve a heck of a lot more benefit of the doubt here than all these conspiracy nonsense theories that keep getting repeated.  

 

To be honest, I find the position of many people here to be both disappointing and disturbing.  Stop trying to negatively sensationalize the situation into something twisted to fuel your interest in tearing down the character of this regime.  It's 100% misguided.  

 

Bills, McD, and Beane handled this incredibly well respecting the fact these were accusations...not criminal chargers, nor a civil case yet...when they were made aware of them by a civil attorney looking for money for his client.  At the same time, taking them very serious and working behind the scenes to try and get enough info to figure out if this is a credible accusation and moving towards a real case.  

 

Once it progressed into a filed case, their inability to get enough of the things they tried to get, making it seemingly impossible for them to determine any truth or prove the version Matt told them, they had no choice to cut him and move on.   And once the situation escalated into an actual filed civil suit, they immediately pulled him from the game, practices, etc and cut him the next day after the game.

 

And not only that, they did not run or hide from this.  McD sat up there after the game and immediately went into this and repeatedly said no football questions, all we are going to talk about is this because its bigger than football.   Most coaches would not have even taken questions on it, let alone the entirety or the press conference.  

 

Then the next day, Beane and McD again sat out there for over 25 minutes taking questions, even stupid and repetitive ones, without hesitation and disclosing as much as they could considering its an ongoing case as of now.  Most teams would have just had a GM release a statement, a controlled short video or interview.  Or if they had the courage to take questions, would have done a few questions and then moved on.  

 

These guys are a total class act and never hide or shy away in moments like this.  And honestly, if you cant see that then I don't know what to tell you.  Too many people in this society want to turn everything into the negative way they view the world.  And with McD and Beane...you are way off the mark. 

Alpha, I think you're mostly correct here, except that you assume the Bills did all they could have under the circumstances when they first learned of the lawsuit.  If they'd thought it out, I think they would have seen that they were leaving themselves out to dry by cutting Haack.  Once they cut him, they were stuck with however the Araiza situation played out.  It was a gamble.  And it really wasn't worth it - they could have kept Haack until this weekend, and decided now.  And the right decision would have been to keep Haack, because the Bills still might not have known enough.  Cut Araiza, go with Haack, don't worry any more about your exposure.  

 

Now, in an odd way, it may work to the Bills favor, because they may find a better punter than hunk in a couple of days.  

[Victory Formation]

17 hours ago, marck said:

Lets take the opportunity to congratulate the Buffalo Bills organization for the way they handled this very difficult issue with Matt Ariaza.

 

Each step was calculated, the response measured and the action swift and deceive.

 

Maybe organizations like the Browns and Dolphins can use this to learn that in player acquisition ethics, integrity and character are far more important then play on the field.

They did, they handled this the right way. I honestly think that this team and this organization would have loved to trash Matt Araiza in a more public way, but politics are politics.