Fairburn: Bills’ handling of Matt Araiza undermined trust

[Buddy]

Fairburn: Bills’ handling of Matt Araiza undermined trust

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[HipKat]

Nearly a month after initially learning of rape accusations against rookie punter Matt Araiza, the Bills released him Saturday night. They did so 48 hours after the Los Angeles Times reported on a lawsuit accusing Araiza and two other San Diego State teammates of participating in the gang rape of a then-17-year old girl last October.

How the Bills handled the time in between is what is hard to comprehend.

In a 27-minute joint news conference in the Bills’ fieldhouse Saturday night, Bills GM Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott explained the timeline of what they knew and laid out their reasoning for how they handled it. They were left trying to talk their way out of a situation they created by how they handled the accuser’s attorney’s initial message on July 31.

“The Buffalo Bills had no choice but to cut their young punter after so badly botching their response to our claim: they ignored us, as though what I warned them would happen could be avoided if they just kept their heads in the sand,” the accuser’s attorney Dan Gilleon said. “This is what enablers do.”

McDermott said of the accuser’s words, “We did take those very seriously. I want everyone to understand that. That’s a serious deal there.” But he also went on a podcast with Barstool Sports weeks after hearing those accusations and happily referred to Araiza as “The Punt God,” called him a fan favorite and said he is a “great kid.”

The team didn’t take the accusation seriously enough until the suit was filed and the public read about it in the Los Angeles Times or elsewhere. Only then did the Bills release a statement that said they had “conducted a thorough examination” of the incident. That thorough examination did not include following up with the accuser’s attorney after he warned the Bills of the suit.

“We had the boulders of what was being accused,” Beane said. “If any of those boulders, if we were able to piece together were accurate, our decision was simple to move on from Matt. We were using the resources that we had to find any answers that we could. Again, it’s very hard. I don’t know that any more conversations with him would have changed anything because that was those accusations. We were just trying to hear the facts.”

Araiza denied the accusations, and the Bills took the word of a player who already hadn’t been forthright with the organization during the pre-draft process. The accuser’s words didn’t appear to matter to the Bills until everyone had the ability to read them in the civil lawsuit.

“We were trying not to rush to judgment,” Beane said. “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 jury.”

The San Diego Police Department has been investigating the incident since last October, when the alleged victim went to the police, according to the lawsuit. That investigation has been handed over to the district attorney. The lawsuit claims the police investigation involved detectives coaching the accuser through supervised calls. In those calls, the lawsuit quotes Araiza advising the accuser to get tested for a sexually transmitted disease.

The accuser’s attorney has also tweeted graphic excerpts from her diary from that time, including, “I feel sick in the head,” the journal reads. “I told the police today what they did to me and I felt like I was no help at all. I can barely even remember. …

“They were just taking turns with me. … I have no idea how long I was even in there or how many guys had sex with me … I was bloody after. BLOODY. What the hell did they do to me in there??? All my piercings are gone and my neck is disgusting. I don’t know if they are hickeys or bruises … I’m supposed to go to school tomorrow and I’m scared people will see.”

Those details and the response to them are what made the Bills spring into action. Prior to that, the Bills were convinced enough of Araiza’s words that they didn’t feel the need to keep incumbent punter Matt Haack on the roster any longer to get more clarity on the situation. They released Haack on Monday, more than a week before the deadline to trim the roster to 53 players. Beane admitted, “You can second guess whether that was the right move.” They were comfortable enough with Araiza’s version of events to let McDermott talk about him on a Barstool podcast.

The Bills explained the release by saying they “wanted Matt to be able to focus” on the legal situation because “that’s more important than playing football.”

Beane added, “our culture is more important than winning football games.” But this incident will require Beane and McDermott to rebuild the public’s trust in that culture. Beane said he hopes people know he and McDermott are trying to do their best.

“We don’t have all the answers,” Beane said. “We’re not perfect. But I can tell you, as Sean said earlier, we just tried to do what was right. And has everything been perfect? No.”

This fell well short of perfect. It’s one thing to miss these accusations when scouting Araiza. They weren’t the only team unaware of this situation prior to the draft, although the Associated Press reported more than one team did know. It’s a separate issue to learn of the accusations and not follow up with the accuser’s attorney. Instead of digging deeper into the accuser’s words, the Bills took Araiza at his word, let him compete for and win a starting job and celebrated him on a national podcast.

The Bills were supposed to be spending the next two weeks preparing to deal with the massive on-field expectations they built toward over the last five years. Instead, with the season kickoff against the Rams in 11 days, they spent 48 crucial hours dealing with a crisis they could have avoided. They gambled on the word of a 22-year-old rookie they’d had in their building for just a few months. They didn’t do a thorough enough job finding out exactly what he would be accused of and what evidence would be presented. Only when the public outcry was so strong did the Bills do “the right thing.”

McDermott said Friday he and the team “had work to do.” That work allowed them to reach the conclusion they did Saturday night. The work shouldn’t stop there, though. They should figure out how and why this slipped through the cracks in the scouting process. They should ask themselves why they handled the information the way they did when they received it in late July.

The team has built a certain level of trust with its fan base under McDermott and Beane. They’re credited with cleaning up an organization that suffered through years of dysfunction on its way to 17 consecutive playoff-less seasons. The way they preached culture and got results made fans trust that they were different. They were building a winning team and convincing everyone they were doing so with integrity, with men fans could be proud of supporting.

McDermott left his press conference after the preseason game Friday night feeling like he and the team had more work to do. They should still feel that way.

[DannyBoy]

 

[Thebowflexbody]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  Let's revisit this whole thing at a later point.  Those rushing to judgement are so full of shit.  No one actually knows dick at this point.  Shut up, morons.

[The Chosen]

The Bills didn't stand behind their player. Are they privy to knowledge we aren't, probably. But if they cut this guy out of response from the public and this guy turns out be innocent, what message is that sending to the locker room? Unfortunately in today's rush to judgement world we live in, the Bills had no choice but to cut ties. But what if, and hear me out here, what if he's being railroaded? Nobody, no matter what they say knows for sure, except the accuser and the accused. 

[rcas0308]

19 hours ago, HipKat said:

Nearly a month after initially learning of rape accusations against rookie punter Matt Araiza, the Bills released him Saturday night. They did so 48 hours after the Los Angeles Times reported on a lawsuit accusing Araiza and two other San Diego State teammates of participating in the gang rape of a then-17-year old girl last October.

How the Bills handled the time in between is what is hard to comprehend.

In a 27-minute joint news conference in the Bills’ fieldhouse Saturday night, Bills GM Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott explained the timeline of what they knew and laid out their reasoning for how they handled it. They were left trying to talk their way out of a situation they created by how they handled the accuser’s attorney’s initial message on July 31.

“The Buffalo Bills had no choice but to cut their young punter after so badly botching their response to our claim: they ignored us, as though what I warned them would happen could be avoided if they just kept their heads in the sand,” the accuser’s attorney Dan Gilleon said. “This is what enablers do.”

McDermott said of the accuser’s words, “We did take those very seriously. I want everyone to understand that. That’s a serious deal there.” But he also went on a podcast with Barstool Sports weeks after hearing those accusations and happily referred to Araiza as “The Punt God,” called him a fan favorite and said he is a “great kid.”

The team didn’t take the accusation seriously enough until the suit was filed and the public read about it in the Los Angeles Times or elsewhere. Only then did the Bills release a statement that said they had “conducted a thorough examination” of the incident. That thorough examination did not include following up with the accuser’s attorney after he warned the Bills of the suit.

“We had the boulders of what was being accused,” Beane said. “If any of those boulders, if we were able to piece together were accurate, our decision was simple to move on from Matt. We were using the resources that we had to find any answers that we could. Again, it’s very hard. I don’t know that any more conversations with him would have changed anything because that was those accusations. We were just trying to hear the facts.”

Araiza denied the accusations, and the Bills took the word of a player who already hadn’t been forthright with the organization during the pre-draft process. The accuser’s words didn’t appear to matter to the Bills until everyone had the ability to read them in the civil lawsuit.

“We were trying not to rush to judgment,” Beane said. “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 jury.”

The San Diego Police Department has been investigating the incident since last October, when the alleged victim went to the police, according to the lawsuit. That investigation has been handed over to the district attorney. The lawsuit claims the police investigation involved detectives coaching the accuser through supervised calls. In those calls, the lawsuit quotes Araiza advising the accuser to get tested for a sexually transmitted disease.

The accuser’s attorney has also tweeted graphic excerpts from her diary from that time, including, “I feel sick in the head,” the journal reads. “I told the police today what they did to me and I felt like I was no help at all. I can barely even remember. …

“They were just taking turns with me. … I have no idea how long I was even in there or how many guys had sex with me … I was bloody after. BLOODY. What the hell did they do to me in there??? All my piercings are gone and my neck is disgusting. I don’t know if they are hickeys or bruises … I’m supposed to go to school tomorrow and I’m scared people will see.”

Those details and the response to them are what made the Bills spring into action. Prior to that, the Bills were convinced enough of Araiza’s words that they didn’t feel the need to keep incumbent punter Matt Haack on the roster any longer to get more clarity on the situation. They released Haack on Monday, more than a week before the deadline to trim the roster to 53 players. Beane admitted, “You can second guess whether that was the right move.” They were comfortable enough with Araiza’s version of events to let McDermott talk about him on a Barstool podcast.

The Bills explained the release by saying they “wanted Matt to be able to focus” on the legal situation because “that’s more important than playing football.”

Beane added, “our culture is more important than winning football games.” But this incident will require Beane and McDermott to rebuild the public’s trust in that culture. Beane said he hopes people know he and McDermott are trying to do their best.

“We don’t have all the answers,” Beane said. “We’re not perfect. But I can tell you, as Sean said earlier, we just tried to do what was right. And has everything been perfect? No.”

This fell well short of perfect. It’s one thing to miss these accusations when scouting Araiza. They weren’t the only team unaware of this situation prior to the draft, although the Associated Press reported more than one team did know. It’s a separate issue to learn of the accusations and not follow up with the accuser’s attorney. Instead of digging deeper into the accuser’s words, the Bills took Araiza at his word, let him compete for and win a starting job and celebrated him on a national podcast.

The Bills were supposed to be spending the next two weeks preparing to deal with the massive on-field expectations they built toward over the last five years. Instead, with the season kickoff against the Rams in 11 days, they spent 48 crucial hours dealing with a crisis they could have avoided. They gambled on the word of a 22-year-old rookie they’d had in their building for just a few months. They didn’t do a thorough enough job finding out exactly what he would be accused of and what evidence would be presented. Only when the public outcry was so strong did the Bills do “the right thing.”

McDermott said Friday he and the team “had work to do.” That work allowed them to reach the conclusion they did Saturday night. The work shouldn’t stop there, though. They should figure out how and why this slipped through the cracks in the scouting process. They should ask themselves why they handled the information the way they did when they received it in late July.

The team has built a certain level of trust with its fan base under McDermott and Beane. They’re credited with cleaning up an organization that suffered through years of dysfunction on its way to 17 consecutive playoff-less seasons. The way they preached culture and got results made fans trust that they were different. They were building a winning team and convincing everyone they were doing so with integrity, with men fans could be proud of supporting.

McDermott left his press conference after the preseason game Friday night feeling like he and the team had more work to do. They should still feel that way.

Bottom line zero criminal charges have been filed at this time. Zero arrests. That means there wouldn't be Public knowledge of any arrests. If they felt the police didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest and a lawsuit wasn't filed either at the time why would anyone think a football team should be more on top of this than the local authorities. They already advise the University to stay out of this. Also I could be wrong but isn't it more likely to sue someone after seeing the results of a criminal proceeding when evidence was presented? I'm thinking management was expecting this before  taking the next step.

[Thurmal]

Thos regime has built a roster that has very, very few character concerns when compared to the rest of the league. I'm not going to fault them for wanting to give a player the benefit of the doubt before effectively ending his career, particularly when it was a draft pick who seems to be the best prospect in decades at his position.

They found some discrepancies in his story and cut him. Self-righteous finger-wagging like the kind in this article is why there is really no incentive to bend to the mob's will on apologies and/or admitting mistakes. They came to their decision on their timeline, and I'm glad it has been resolved. I don't need for them to "rebuild trust" -- they are employees of a sports franchise, why are we talking about them like family members?