That was the one-word reply from a Buffalo Bills fan to my post on X (formerly known as Twitter) about general manager Brandon Beane saying defensive end Von Miller would be available to play Sunday in Kansas City, less than two weeks after his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
Hard to argue, right?
In fact, it is impossible to argue the merits and the optics of the Bills letting Miller play until there is clarity about his legal situation. He can meet with the team. He can practice with the team. He can get paid by the team. But he should not play with the team.
Period.
Silent Bills owner/CEO/president/big boss Terry Pegula had a chance to send a message to the nearly 60 female employees who work for his team, the women whose job is to cover his team and the legion of female fans who cheer for his team by instructing Beane and coach Sean McDermott to deactivate Miller.
Instead, Miller, in the middle of his worst on-field season (no sacks and no impact), is expected to play against the Chiefs.
Bad move. Bad message. Bad all around.
The Bills are 6-6 on the field, but 0-1 off the field.
I know the investigation is ongoing, no charges have been filed and the reported victim has already downplayed the incident in an interview with a Dallas television station. But this was a chance for the Bills to show they will not tolerate a player putting himself in this type of situation. If anything, Miller is already guilty of poor judgment.
Two things can be right at the same time: The Bills can support Miller and let the judicial process develop and they can show their disappointment by benching him.
Pegula would rather pay for a full roof over the new stadium across the street (paid in part by the taxpayers who buy tickets to Bills games) than talk to the media, so he left it to Beane and McDermott to clean up the wreckage during the team’s first media availabilities since returning from the bye week.
Beane tried hard, he really did, and attempted to say the right things about taking the accusations seriously
“You never want anyone in your organization to have an allegation like that,” Beane said when I asked him about the team’s disappointment level.
Over the course of 18 minutes, Beane had one significant hiccup – “If any of this were true, it would be out of character for the person we know” – that saw his posterior raked across the social media coals.
(We don’t know any of these players and how they operate away from the confines of the workplace. The same goes for anybody’s colleagues or employees. Plus, Miller’s history with a domestic violence investigation in 2021 removes the element of being surprised.)
The Bills are obligated to follow the NFL’s lead – the league office handles player conduct violations and, ultimately, player suspensions. One league source said the Bills couldn’t ban Miller from the facility even if they wanted to without the union getting involved. And only commissioner Roger Goodell can place a player on the exempt list (suspended with pay), an option he has rarely exercised.
But the Bills aren’t obligated to act as if nothing happened between Miller and the woman in a Dallas apartment – yet, how can their actions be taken any differently?
At least Beane tried to paint a picture of how the Bills are handling this. Forty minutes later, McDermott didn’t try at all.
It was a disaster.
He should have had a written statement to read. He didn’t.
He should have had at least some talking points in his head. He didn’t.
He should have expressed his disappointment in Miller creating a distraction at a time when the Bills’ season is on the cusp of being over. He didn’t.
Instead, defiance and word salad.
Your thoughts on the Von situation?
“I know Brandon addressed it, and that’s where we’re at, so I don’t see a need to address it after it’s been addressed,” McDermott said.
How do you handle it in the locker room?
“Again, it’s been addressed. Brandon spoke on it. I’m focused on this practice right now.”
How are you personally handling this?
“Brandon and I have already spoken. He’s addressed it with you guys. I think that’s more than fair. I am focused on going to practice and coaching the football team.”
You could hear a pin drop in the Bills’ media room. I know I was shocked at how McDermott handled it. It doesn’t matter if Beane already talked about it. McDermott is the head coach, the public voice of the organization in-season. If you’re not going to deactivate Miller, then say something – anything – that would provide a glimpse of his disappointment and rationale.
Given another chance, McDermott admitted Miller’s arrest is a “very serious situation. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.” But by then, the figurative toothpaste was out of the tube.
This was a total organizational failure by an organization that fired its chief operating officer (John Roth) in mid-October for having a romantic relationship with senior vice president of business administration Kathryn D’Angelo, which violated company policy.
Beane and McDermott will absorb the criticism for their words (Beane) and non-words (McDermott); Pegula pays them millions of dollars to field questions about uncomfortable topics so he doesn’t have to.
But the perceived strategy of indifference falls completely on Pegula and made Wednesday a bad day for the Bills’ organization.