The Buffalo Bills made the only decision they could have Friday night: They did not play punter Matt Araiza in their preseason finale at Carolina against the Panthers, which they lost 21-0.Araiza was accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Southern California of participating in the gang rape of a then-17-year-old female. He has not been charged, but the Bills could not, in good conscience, dress Araiza given the circumstances.A clearly upset and drained coach Sean McDermott spent nine minutes answering questions about the situation, and while he didn’t elaborate on much of anything, and kept going back to standard pat answers, there was enough in there to indicate that he fully recognizes the gravity of what is taking place.“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,” McDermott said. “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. 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.”McDermott was peppered with questions, but he held firm – as he often does – from revealing the inner workings of One Bills Drive.He was asked several times about when he first learned of the allegations surrounding Araiza, what the team knew, whether the hollow statement the Bills put out is adequate at this point, and whether Araiza will be a member of the team moving forward.His singular answer was along the lines of, “Respect your question, but I’m not going to get into the details.”Opinion:Don't buy Bills' claim of a 'thorough examination' of rape allegation against Matt AraizaAttorney::Bills never spoke to woman who accused Matt Araiza of rapeWhen he was asked about how female Bills fans in particular may be feeling, he said, “Again, it’s not a situation we take lightly. I’m hurt, I understand they’re hurt. And it’s emotional. It’s not easy to hear about some of the things that I’ve heard about over the last several hours, say. Haven’t slept a lot to be honest with you.”Several times he said, “We have work to do” in reference to trying to find out what exactly happened, and how the team apparently was not aware of anything until only recently.“It’s just a matter of trying to find the truth at the end of the day, right?” he said. “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.”Doing the right thing might be to just cut Araiza and move on, and when he was asked about that, and about Araiza’s character, he said, “I’m 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. And that includes Matt, it includes both sides here, and the victim and everyone involved. Our prayers go out to them.”During the game, Araiza released a statement through his agent that read: “The facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press. I look forward to quickly setting the record straight.”Obviously, these next few days are going to be quite interesting. Source link
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